












* „N\^ 



V^ ^ 



<^o. 



^' 



^^ « ^ • <Z^ 



9j, "v 



/ . ^o 



*"'. ■% 



^x.#^>^^'^''=^ 




^4'- ^^■'^'^ 












^' 









.^%^ 



Nf.V-.% 



CWv^ O ^ 



'^n .^^ 



% 



,^^ 






^ c/% ^AP'^ ./ -% 



'"■^^^y" .'','^H^')'- ^^.o. 



'ifx 










0^ ^V 






^%tf'/,.^■ . -^ .»<t' 






v^ ."^,^^/u'- ^_ 



G^^ 







C 





























%^. .A^ ^^ 






.^^^ 



(fcmfltnental nni Jntnestir ^onltq. 




A TKEITISE _ ^^^ 



HISTORY AND MANAGEMENT 



dbmaniental ani Jntndir ^ntillq, 



By Riv. EDMUND SAUL DIXON, A. M. 

u 



RECTOR OF INTWOOD-WITH-KESWICK, NORFOLK. 



m WITH LARGE ADDITIONS, 

a^b ' ^^ ^- '^' KERR, M.D. 



ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTY-FIVE ORIGIJ^AL PORTRAITS, ENGRAVED 
EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK. 



^Monlr Bliilwn. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED BY E. H. BUTLER & CO. 

18 51. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 

E. H. BUTLER & CO. 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of 

Pennsylyania. 



9ff 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. ^^ 



In offering to the public Mr. Dixon's Treatise " On 
Ornamental and Domestic Poultry," the Editor begs to 
submit a few preliminary remarks. Several gentlemen 
in the vicinity of Philadelphia, amateur breeders of 
choice Poultry, considering me to be one of some ex- 
perience in that branch of rural economy, suggested 
that I might fill up whatever leisure I had from pro- 
fessional duty, in recording my experience, and thus 
give to them, and others, the result of several years' ob- 
servation. They seemed pleased with occasional articles 
I had written on the subject, over the nom de plume, 
''Asa Bugg:' On reflection, I resolved to make my- 
self better acquainted with all, or nearly all, that had 
been written on the subject. With this view, I pro- 
cured, through my bookseller, whatever Treatises on 
Poultry I had not at hand. On carefully consulting 
them, I came to the conclusion that the Rev. Edmund 
Saul Dixon's work on " Ornamental and Domestic Poul- 
try," was decidedly the best. I determined, therefore, 
instead of adding another book to this branch of Natu- 
ral History, merely to edit this, adding portraits of the 
most important Fowls described, and descriptions of the 



10 PREFACE. 

several kinds of Shanghaes,* Guelder land, and other 
varieties, not therein specifically noticed. In addition 
to this, there were wanting some remarks on the history 
and method of making Capons, a practice which Mr. 
Dixon seems, without sufficient reasons, inclined to con- 
demn. There have been omitted, also, certain portions, 
not deemed necessary or interesting to the American 
Fancier. 

In order that the reader may know how deeply Mr. 
Dixon is interested in the prosecution of this and kin- 
dred branches of Natural History, and how far his views 
and statements may consequently be relied on, I take the 
liberty of extracting the following from a letter I received 
from him twelve months ago. He says, " I beg to thank 
you very sincerely for your friendly offers of assistance, 
and shall not hesitate to avail myself of them. . . . . . 

As soon as the second edition of my book is finished, 
which will be much enlarged, \tlie second is the one used 
in preparing tJiis,'] I propose setting about a second 
volume on Domesticated and Captive Birds, to comprise 
the Fancy Pigeons, Guans, Curassows, Gold and Silver 

* The Editor is qiiite confident that the Fowl described in English 
Treatises on Poultry, as the Cochin China, is, when pure, identical 
with our thorough-bred Shanghaes.— He avails himself of this occa- 
sion to say, that though, in the main, he accords with the views and 
statements of his kind and valued correspondents, herein recorded, 
yet he would not be understood as agreeing with them in every par- 
ticular. 



PREFACE. 11 

Pheasants, etc., respecting which, any particulars of 
their condition and cultivation in the New World may 
be useful to me. I am daily expecting to receive from 
a nobleman, a present of Passenger, Senegal, and other 

Pigeons, to observe their habits in confinement 

We have here Fowls nearly, if not quite answering to 
all those you describe. At the great Birmingham Show, 
last December, (1849,) at which I had the honour to act 
as one of the judges, there were several such. I pre- 
sume that you have good Cattle and Poultry Shows in 
the United States." 

Mr. Dixon is, from local circumstances, a man of more 
leisure than the Established Clergy usually are; and 
his position, taste, and learning, afford him every means 
of cultivating those branches of Natural History to 
which his inclination has led him. We have, therefore, 
in the present treatise, so far as he is concerned, all 
that can be expected, on such a subject, from a man of 
learning, taste, and experience. As for myself, I have 
little to say, farther than that mine has been a conge- 
nial and pleasing task; the subject is one to which, 
from early association and inclination, my attention 
has been long directed. I have had my boyish experi- 
ments, and the more mature trials of my manhood, on 
many of the systems which I have since seen detailed 
in the writings of the learned ; and it is to the result 
of what I have found best in each of these, that I, in 



12 PREFACE. 

the following pages, would wish to direct the attention 
of those who now have, or desire to have a Poultry- 
house. I have consulted with many eminent and ex- 
perienced individuals on the subject, and have freely 
added to the w^ork whatever I thought adapted to ren- 
der it more valuable as a practical guide in the selec- 
tion, breeding, and management of Domestic and Orna- 
mental Poultry. 

Of those to whom I am chiefly indebted, I would 
gratefully mention Mr. Nolan, of Dublin ; Dr. Bennett, 
of Plymouth ; Mr. Brown, of New York ; David Tag- 
gart, Esq., of Northumberland, Pa. ; Geo. P. Burnham, 
Esq., Dr. E. Wight, H. L. Devereux, Esq., and Mr. 
Morse, of Boston ; Mr. Blake, of Mass. ; and Mr. E. 
R. Cope, of Philadelphia. 

The portraits w^ere drawn, chiefly from nature, and, 
for the most part, under my own supervision, by Mr. 
Croome, of Philadelphia, whose excellence as an artist, 
is too well known to require a word of commendation. 

J. J. Kerr. 

Philadelphia, February ISth, 1851. 



The Editor avails himself of this opportunity to inform his 
friends and correspondents, that on and after the first day of March 
ensuing, he will make the city of New York his residence, where he 
hopes often to hear from them, and especially from those who take 
pleasure in the cultivation and observation of "Ornamental and 
Domestic Poultry." 



MR. DIXON'S PEEFACE 

TO THE FIRST EDITION. 

(condensed.) 

The history of the present volume is very simple, 
and, it may be, runs parallel with that of many other 
works on higher subjects. The author, with his wife 
(now removed from worldly trouble) and his child, were 
living in a small suburban house, that had a little back- 
garden attached to it. As a harmless amusement, they 
procured a few Fowls to keep, although totally ignorant 
of their ways and doings. In aid of this ignorance, 
books were procured — to little purpose. The difficulty 
of obtaining instruction from others led to closer obser- 
vation on our own part, and a more eager grasp at the 
required knowledge. By degrees, a few water-fowl were 
added to the collection ; but the only watering-places on 
the spot were tubs and milk-pans. A neighbour, how- 
ever, obligingly permitted the flock of strange Fowl to 
be driven to a small pond a few score yards off. They 
throve and duly increased ; but still, little help was to 
be had from books. Encyclopsedias, though in them the 
Natural History department is almost always well exe- 
cuted, were little satisfactory. "Anser, see Goose," 
" Goose, see Anser," is scarcely an exaggeration of what 
often fell out. Several current Poultry-books were pur- 

2 13 



14 PREFACE TO 

chased, which proved to be compilations of matter, valu- 
able, indeed, in the hands of an editor practically ac- 
quainted with his subject ; but these works are full of 
errors, grossly evident even to learners, and of contra- 
dictions that must strike any attentive reader, even 
though he had never seen a feathered creature in his life. 

But a student is sometimes the best teacher of any 
branch of knowledge, as far as he has himself advanced 
in it, because he has a fresh recollection of the ques- 
tions which gave him the most trouble to solve ; and 
therefore notes were made, mentally, and on paper, from 
time to time. It was afterwards encouragingly sug- 
gested that the publication of them might be ventured 
upon, as being possibly acceptable to people requiring 
such information. They were offered to the editor of the 
G-ardener' s Ohro7iicle, readily accepted, favourably re- 
ceived by the readers of that valuable paper — a class of 
persons whose good opinion I must think it an honour 
to have obtained — and the reader now holds in his hands 
the entire results of my present experience in that de- 
partment of Natural History, in addition to what has 
been already published in the Agricultural Grazette. It 
is hoped that the need of some attempt of the kind, from 
some quarter, will conciliate a lenient criticism of the 
many errors and deficiencies with which the author may 
doubtless be chargeable, whatever pains he may have 
taken to guard against them. 

Poultry has been too much undervalued as a means 
of study and a field of observation. Insignificant, and, 
to us, valueless wild animals, brought from a distance, 
about whose history and habits we can learn little or no- 
thing, are received with respectful attention by men of 
education and ability, are embalmed in spirits, treasured 



THE FIRST EDITION. 15 

in museums, and portrayed by artists ; but a class of 
creatures inferior to few on the face of the earth in 
beauty — useful, companionable, of great value in an eco- 
nomical point of view — are disregarded and disdained. It 
is possible that any one claiming to be considered as an 
educated gentleman, may be thought to have done a 
bold thing in publishing a book on Poultry, and giving 
his real name on the title page. Moubray, who has 
written, perhaps, the best modern treatise on the sub- 
ject, only ventured to meet the public criticism under 
the shelter of an assumed title. 

But some very important speculations respecting or- 
ganic life, and the history of the animated races now in- 
habiting this planet, are closely connected with the 
creatures we retain in domestication, and can scarcely 
be studied so well in any other field. Poultry, living 
under our very roof, and, by the rapid succession of their 
generations, affording a sufficient number of instances 
for even the short life of man to give time to take some 
cognisance of their progressive succession, — poultry af- 
ford the best possible subjects for observing the trans- 
mission or interruption of hereditary forms and instincts. 

I shall, no doubt, at the first glance, be pronounced 
rash, as soon as I am perceived to quit the plain task of 
observing, for the more adventurous one of speculating 
upon what I have observed. I can only say that the 
conclusion to which I have arrived respecting what is 
called the " origin'' of our domestic races, has been, to 
my own mind, irresistible, having begun the investiga- 
tion with a bias towards what I must call the wild theory, 
although so fashionable of late, that our tame breeds or 
varieties are the result of cross-breeding between undo- 
mesticated animals, fertile inter se. It will be found, I 



16 PREFACE TO 

imagine, on strict inquiry, that the most careful breed- 
ing will only fix and make prominent certain peculiar 
features, or points, that are observed in certain families 
of the same aboriginal species, or sub-species — no more : 
and that the whole world might be challenged to bring 
evidence (such as would be admitted in an English court 
of justice) that any permanent intermediate variety of 
bird or animal, that would continue to reproduce off- 
spring like itself, and not reverting to either original 
type, have been originated by the crossing of any two 
wild species. Very numerous instances of the failure of 
such experimental attempts might be adduced. The dif- 
ficulty under which science labours in pursuing this in- 
quiry, is much increased by the mystery in which almost 
all breeders have involved their proceedings, even if they 
have not purposely misled those who have endeavoured 
to trace the means employed. 

As to the great question of the Immutability of Spe- 
cies, so closely allied to the investigation of the different 
varieties of poultry, as far as my own limited researches 
have gone — and they have been confined almost entirely 
to birds under the influence of man — they have led me 
to the conclusion that even sub-species and varieties are 
much more permanent, independent, and ancient, than 
is currently believed at the present day. This result 
has been to me unavoidable, as well as unexpected ; for, 
as above mentioned, I started with a great idea of the 
powerful transmuting influence of time, changed climate, 
and increased food. My present conviction is, that the 
diversities which we see in even the most nearly allied 
species of birds, are not produced by any such influences, 
nor by hybridisation ; but that each distinct species, 
however nearly resembling any other, has been pro- 



THEFIRSTEDITION. 17 

duced by a Creative Power. I am even disposed to 
adopt this view towards many forms that are usually con- 
sidered as mere varieties. Half of the mongrels that one 
sees are only transition-forms, passing back to the type 
of one or other original progenitor. At least, my own 
eye can detect such to be frequently the apparent fact 
in the case of Domestic Fowls. 

The reader will perceive that a description has been 
given, in most cases, of the newly-hatched chicks of each 
species of poultry. The idea of doing this was suggested 
by an inquiry, which had for its object to ascertain the 
amount of differences in the very young of our supposed 
domestic races, compared with the difference of the ma- 
ture animals, in relation to the general belief that, in 
youth, species differ very little from each other ; it being 
really the fact, that the embryos of even distinct orders 
are closely and fundamentally alike each other. But 
if these embryotic similarities between birds and any 
other class of creatures be sought for, the time of the 
exclusion of the chick from the egg is far too late in its 
existence to look for them. Observant persons, who 
have themselves been practically engaged in the rearing 
of poultry, will immediately recognise the newly-hatched 
chick of each variety with which they are acquainted. 
Nay, when an egg has been accidentally broken, after a 
fortnight's incubation, I have myself been able to de- 
cide of what breed it would have been, had it survived. 
I believe that a comparison of the newly-hatched young 
of all wild birds, would lead to the like result. The only 
chance of finding any such analogies, or rather confu- 
sion, would be obtained by examining the embryos of 
birds, reptiles, and fishes, two or three days after the 
hatching of the ovum had commenced. 



18 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 

But the reader has listened long enough to this prae- 
ludium ; we will strike the final chords, which sound har- 
moniously to our own ears. Thanks are the burden of 
our closing song. Without great help, this volume, 
though small, could not have been written at all ; with- 
out great encouragement the writer would certainly not 
have ventured to send it forth. It is scarcely possible 
to mention by name all the persons to whom he is in- 
debted for hints, and answers to inquiries. The addition 
of initials to many paragraphs is an attempt to avoid 
some part of the reproach of strutting in borrowed 
plumes ; they will also perhaps serve as props to sustain 
his own otherwise tottering edifice : but it would be an 
ungrateful omission not to mention specially the obliga- 
tions under which the author feels himself bound to the 
Editors of The Cfardeners' ChronicUy and the Agricul- 
tural G-azette. 

Cringleford Hall, Norwich, 

October, 1848. 



MR. DIXOFS PREFACE 

TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

(CONDENSED.) 

The Prefaces to the First and Second edition of any 
book are written under very different feelings and cir- 
cumstances. In the one case, an author is on the eve 
of submitting his labours to the tribunal of criticism, not 
always good-natured or impartial ; in the other, he has 
passed the ordeal, surviving the several cuts and burns 
that may have been inflicted upon him ; that best cen- 
sor of the press, the British Public, has stamped the ap- 
proving Imprimatur upon his fly-leaf; he may then be 
allowed to rejoice and congratulate himself, if he do but 
cherish, as he ought, due gratitude to those who held out 
a helping hand while the success of his venture was yet 
uncertain; for he may at length calculate upon the 
votes of those who wait to hear what opinion others shall 
pronounce, as well as of those who have the courage and 
intelligence to think for themselves. 

Exclusive of the fact that a large impression has 
already been disposed of, this edition, it may be hoped, 
will meet with a favourable reception from having been 
carefully revised throughout, and enlarged with addi- 
tional matter to the full extent that the space allowed 
by the publisher would permit. The opportunity of at- 
tending the great Birmingham Show of cattle, sheep, 
swine, and poultry, at which the author had the honour 

19 



20 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

to be selected to act as one of the judges, enabled him 
to make a careful inspection and comparison of those 
breeds of fowls whose nomenclature and arrangement 
■were most confused ; and by the kind and able assist- 
ance, both previously and since, rendered by the gentle- 
men connected with the management of that important 
meeting, it may be said, without vain boasting, that a 
fuller account is given of the Domestic Fowl, as at pre- 
sent kept in England, than is to be found in any other 
treatise on poultry. 

Cringleford, 

February, 1851. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP I. 
The Domestic Fowl Page 25 

CHAP. II. 
The Rearing and Management of Fowls 69 

CHAP. III. 
Eggs — Their Colour, Form, and Sex 100 

CHAP. IV. 
Eggs — Their Preservation for Culinary Purposes 106 

CHAP. V. 
— Their Preservation for Incubation 114 



CHAP. VI. 
Varieties of the Shanghae Fowl 126 

CHAP. VII. 

The Cochin China Fowl 143 

Burnham's Importation of Cochin China Fowl 144 

CHAP. VIII. 
The Malay Fowl, sometimes (though erroneously) called Chitta- 

gong 160 

21 



22 CONTENTS. 

CHAP. IX. 
The Pheasant-Malay Fowl Pag^ 168 

CHAP. X. 
The Guelderland Fowl ISl 

CHAP. XI. 

The Dorking Fowl 183 

Coloured Dorkings 198 

CHAP. XII. 
The Spanish Fowl 203 

CHAP. XIII. 

The Game Fowl 214 

The Mexican Hen-Cock Game Fowl 246 

CHAP. XIV. 

The Chittagong Fowl 270 

The Java Fowl 272 

The Shakebag Fowl 270 

The Jersey-Blue Fowl.... 273 

CHAP. XY. 
The Poland, or Polish Fowl 274 

CHAP. XYI. 

The Spangled Hamburgh Fowl 287 

The Bolton Gray, or Creole Fowl 288 

CHAP. XYII. 

The Rumpless Fowl, or Rumpkin 299 

The Silky and Negro Fowls 302 

The Frizzled, or Friesland Fowl 305 

The Cuckoo Fowl 307 

The Blue Dun Fowl 309 

The Lark-crested Fowl 312 



CONTENTS. 28 

CHAP. XVIII. 
The Smooth-legged Bantam Page 315 

CHAP. XIX. 

,The Dunghill Fowl 828 

The Dominique Fowl 328 

Col. .Toques' Chicken Coop 329 

Mr. H. L. Devereux's Method of Rearing Chicks without a 

mother 330 

Mr. E. R. Cope's Letter on Early Chickens 331 

CHAP. XX. 
Caponizing Fowls 336 

CHAP. XXI. 
The Pea Fowl 344 

CHAP. XXII. 
The Ring-necked Pheasant 851 

CHAP. XXIII. 
The Turkey 369 

CHAP. XXIV. 
The Guinea Fowl 373 

CHAP. XXV. 

The Mute Swan, (Cygnus Olor.) 379 

CHAP. XXVI. 
The Wild, or Canada Goose 396 

CHAP. XXVII. 
The Domestic Goose 405 

CHAP. XXVIII. 
The Hong Kong, or China Goose 420 



24 CONTENTS. 

CHAP. XXIX. 
The Bremen Goose Page 429 

CHAP. XXX. 

The White-fronted, or Laughing Goose 436 

The White China Goose 440 

CHAP. XXXI. 

The Bernicle Goose 449 

The Brent Goose 463 

CHAP. XXXII. 
The Tame Duck 456 



dDrnammtal mh MmtBllt fm\\x\\. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

Preliminary to a description of the different breeds and 
varieties of fowls, some general account of them, and their man- 
agement, will be appropriate; and I know of nothing better 
than the following, which I quote from Mr. Dixon. He says, in 
answer to the question. What is the earliest date of poultry- 
keeping ? Nobody knows. My own belief is, that it is coeval 
with the keeping of sheep by Abel, and the tilling of the ground 
by Cain — a supposition which cannot be far from probability if 
there is any foundation for the legend that Gromer, the eldest 
son of Japhet, took a surname from the Cock. Indeed, it 
would be to him that Western Europe stands indebted for a 
stock of Fowls from the Ark itself. For, it is supposed by the 
erudite, and shown by at least probable arguments, that the 
descendants of Gromer settled in the northern parts of Asia 
Minor, and then spread into the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the 
adjacent regions, and that from them the numerous tribes of 
the Gauls, Cermans, Celts, and Cimbrians descended. It is 
true that there is no mention of Fowls by name in the Old 

3 25 



26 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

Testament, except a doubtful allusion in the Vulgate transla- 
tion of the book of Proverbs (xxx. 31), which is lost in the 
authorized version; the Hebrew word translated "gallus" in 
one place being rendered '^ greyhound'' in the other : " G-allus 
succinctus lumbos ; et aries : nee est rex, qui resistat ei :" " a 
greyhound ;" (some think the loar-Tiorse was meant), ^' an he- 
goat also ; and a king, against whom there is no rising up," 
It will be seen that the Latin and the English by no means run 
parallel to each other. There is another equally disputable 
passage in Ecclesiastes xii. 4 : " And the doors shall be shut 
in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he 
shall rise up at the voice of the bird (i. e. at Cock-crowing), 
and all the daughters of music shall be brought low." Both 
passages are quoted by the Rev. Mr. Pegg in his curious paper 
on Cock-fighting, in the Archaeologia, vol. iii. A still less 
certain reference occurs in the book of Job, xxxviii. 86 : " Who 
hath put wisdom in the inward parts ? or, who hath given un- 
derstanding to the heart?" running thus in the Latin: " Quis 
posuit in visceribus sapientiam, vel quis dedit gallo intelligen- 
tiam?" which is commented on by St. G-regory, and the word 
^^ gallus" spiritually interpreted as having reference to those 
earnest preachers who rouse men from the slumber of sin, and 
cry aloud that the night is far spent, the day is at hand. 

In our English version, " fowls" as articles of provision are 
mentioned at 1 Kings, iv. 23, and again at Nehemiah, v. 18. 
Unfortunately, even Hebrew scholars often find a difficulty in 
fixing upon the animals intended by certain Hebrew words. 
On referring to the Septuagint translation of the Old Testa- 
ment into Greek, I find that, in the passage in Kings, the 
words rendered in our version "fatted fowl" are literally ^'hirdsj 
select fatted ones from the select." But in Nehemiah, instead 
of the "fowls" of our translation, the Septuagint reads, "a goat." 
So that, though we do not doubt that Cocks and Hens were 
domesticated in those early ages, and before them, still the 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. ^7 

special mention of them by name in the Old Testament may be 
considered as doubtful. It is curious that several creatures 
with which we may believe that the ancient Egyptians must 
have been acquainted, are quite omitted from their paintings 
and sculptures. Thus, there seems to be no representation of 
Pigeons or of Camels in their tombs or temples: whereas 
other things, which we should have less expected to find, as a 
flock of Domestic Greese, are depicted with great accuracy. I 
have been anxious to find portraits of some of the Fancy Pi- 
geons upon ancient monuments, but cannot, though I have 
found mention of several in ancient literature. 

The apparent omission of the name of the Domestic Fowl 
from the Old Testament may possibly have arisen from this 
cause, namely : that tending them would be the occupation of 
women, whose domestic employments are less prominently 
brought forward by Oriental writers than the active enterprises 
of men; and also, that the birds specially named there are the 
unclean birds, which are to be avoided, whereas those which 
may be eaten are classed in a lump as " clean." See Leviticus, 
xi. 13, and Deuteronomy, xiv. 11. ^'Of all clean birds ye 
shall eat. But these are they which ye shall not eat; the 
eagle, and the ossifrage, and the osprey," &c. Turtle-doves and 
young pigeons are only mentioned as objects of sacrifice, not 
as articles of food. 

Aristotle, who wrote about 350 years before Christ, speaks 
of them as familiarly as a natural historian of the present day 
would. It is unnecessary more than to allude to the beautiful 
comparisons taken from them in the New Testament. The 
Roman authors of the commencement of the Christian era re- 
corded that they were classed into such a number of distinct 
varieties as could only have been the result of long cultivation. 
Whether we suppose that different breeds were collected and 
imported from different native stations, or assume that the dif- 
ferences of those breeds were the artificial result of domestica- 



*28 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

don, — whichever case we take, Domestic Fowls must have 
been held in familiar esteem for many, many ages before we 
have any clear record of them. Either supposition attaches to 
them a highly interesting and quite mysterious degree of an- 
tiquity. Even in our own country they appear to have existed 
at a time and in a state of society when we should least have - 
expected to find them. "The inland parts of Britain are in- 
habited by those whom fame reports to be natives of the soil. 
They think it unlawful to feed upon hares, pullets, or geese ; 
yet they breed them up for their diversion and pleasure." 
Caesar de Bello Gallico, lib. v. cap. xii., DuncarCs Translation. 
Dr. Kidd, in his Bridgewater Treatise, doubts whether the 
Camel ever existed in a wild and independent state. We do 
not go quite so far as that in scepticism in the case of Fowls, 
but still believe that those who, at this epoch, hunt for Cocks 
and Hens of the same species as our tame ones, either on the 
Continent of Asia, or throughout the whole inhabited vast 
Indian Archipelago, will have undertaken but a fruitless search. 
For certain writers have been at great pains for some years 
past, with but little success, except in their own conceit, to 
pitch upon the wild origin of our Domestic Fowls. The first 
decided attempts appear to have been made by Sonnerat, and 
to have been followed up by succeeding French writers, whose 
errors are glaring, and in whose praise little can be said. 
R^aumer, whose writings are really philosophical and valuable, 
devoted his inquiries to more practical objects, but Sonnerat 
was merely a blind leader of the blind, if there is justice in the 
criticism of Mr. Swainson, who pronounces that "Sonnerat's 
works (Paris, 1776 and 1778), although often cited by the 
French authors, are very poor; the descriptions vague, and the 
figures, particularly of the birds, below mediocrity." BuiFon, 
who did not die till 1788, had therefore an opportunity of 
adopting Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl as the parent of Cocks and 
Hens, and his vivid imagination made him very likely to have 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 29 

adopted so apparently clear an account, ready telegraphed for 
his reception. But instead of that, he speaks hesitatingly and 
doubtfully of the derivation of our Domestic Fowls from Wild 
Cocks, and seems to despair of indicating their origin. He 
says, "Amidst the immense number of different breeds of the 
gallinaceous tribe, how shall we determine the original stock? 
So many circumstances have operated, so many accidents have 
concurred : the attention, and even the whim of man have so 
much multiplied the varieties, that it appears extremely diffi- 
cult to trace them to their source. ^^ 

Those authors who, by a pleasant legerdemain, so easily 
transform one of the wild Indian GalK into a Barndoor Fowl — 
who put the Jungle Cock, the Bankiva Cock, or the Gigantic 
St. Jago (?)* bird under a bushel, hocus pocus a little, lift up 
the cover, and then exhibit a veritable Chanticleer — write as 
if they had only to catch a wild-bird in the woods, turn it into 
a courtyard for a week or two, and make it straightway become 



* St. Jago, one of the Cape de Verd islands, may furnish wild 
Guinea Fowl, but scarcely wild Cocks. The "Gallus Giganteus," 
the great " St. Jago Fowl," is the offspring of an absurd misquota- 
tion from Marsden, which has run the round of most compilations. 
Jago, the native Sumatran or Malay word for a particular breed, has 
been mistaken for "St. Jago," the name for an island. Marsden 
was well acquainted with his subject, and there is nothing like refer- 
ring to an original authority. 

" There are in Sumatra the domestic Hen (az/aTw), some with black 
bones, and some of the sort we call Freezeland or Negro Fowls ; Hen 
of the woods [ay am baroogo) ; the Jago breed of fowls, which abound 
in the southern end of Sumatra, and western of Java, are remarkably 
large ; I have seen a Cock peck off a common dining table : when fa- 
tigued, they sit down on the first joint of the leg, and are then taller 
than the common fowls. It is strange if the same country. Bantam, 
produces likewise the diminutive breed that goes by that name." — 
Marsden^s History of Sumatra, p. 98. 

3* 



30 T H E D M E S T I C P W L. 

as tame as a spaniel.* On such a notion comment is now su- 
pererogatory. For a difficulty which speaks volumes, is, that 
those birds which have been pointed out as the most probable 
ancestors of the Domestic Fowl, do not appear to be more tame- 
able than the Partridge or the Golden Pheasant; moreover, so 
remarkable an appendage as the horny expansion of the feather- 
stem, as seen in Sonnerat's Cock, would, according to what is 
generally supposed to take place, be increased rather than di- 
minished and obliterated by domestication ; and even if got rid 
of by any course of breeding for a few generations, would be 
sure, ultimately, to reappear. Now, in some races of Fowls 
known only to the moderns, or at least not recorded, we ob- 
serve feathered crests showing an affinity with the Lophophori, 
the Pea Fowl, and perhaps distantly with the Curassows; in 
others, certain Bantams, for instance, we find the feet and 
legs covered with feathers, indicating some approach to Ptar- 
migan and Grouse ; the Silky Fowl has a plumage akin to that 
of the Apteryx and the Cassowary ; but in none do we see any 
thing like the bony plates in the plumage of Sonnerat's Cock. 
A bird with this peculiarity, either in the hackle, or in the 
wing, after the fashion of the Bohemian Chatterer, would be 
the greatest curiosity that a London dealer could produce. 



* The Mute Swan is thus made to be descended from the Hooper. 

"It has always had more attention paid it than its fellow subjects ; 
it has never been kept captive (?) ; it has been destined to adorn the 
pieces of water in our gardens, and there permitted to enjoy all the 
sweets of liberty. The abundance and the choice of food have aug- 
mented the bulk of the Tame Swan; but its form has lost none of its 
elegance ; it has preserved the same graces and the same freedom in 
all its motions ; its majestic port is ever admired : / doubt even whe- 
ther all these qualities are found to equal extent in the wild bird.'' M. Bail- 
Ion, quoted by Buffon. Just so we may manufacture Donkeys from 
Wild Asses, Pigs from Peccaries, Dunghill Cocks from Jvingle Fowl, 
nay, why not Men from Monkeys ? See the *' Vestiges of Creation." 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 81 

Stilly our own Cocks and Hens must have had some proge- 
nitors, and if I may venture to offer an opinion, it is this; that 
the wild race, that which once ranged the primaeval woods and 
jungles, unsubdued by man, is now extinct, forever gone, with 
the Dodos and the Deinornithes. Such an idea quite agrees 
with what we now see going on in the world. At no very dis- 
tantly future time, the Turkey will be in exactly the same 
position in which I am supposing our Cocks and Hens to be 
now placed. The race will continue to survive, only from 
having submitted itself to the dominion of man. Wild Tur- 
keys are becoming every year more and more scarce in America, 
and as population increases, and penetrates deeper into the 
wilds, till the whole face of the country is overspread, occupied, 
and cultivated, the Turkey in the New World must share 
the fate of the Bustard in England, and where shall we find 
it then, except under the same circumstances as we now see 
our Domestic Fowls? 

How long existing literature will endure it is impossible to 
speculate; but should it be swept clean away by any social 
convulsion, our descendants, two thousand years hence, will 
have as much difficulty in determining the origin of the Tur- 
key, as we have in deciding upon that of the Cocks and Hens. 
At a later point of time than that predestined for the disap- 
pearance of the wild Turkey, but one equally inevitable, the 
last surviving specimens of the Emeu and the Kangaroo will 
be such as shall be reared in captivity, for the gratification of 
the wealthy or the scientific. Man has the power of trampling 
underfoot, and sweeping every living thing before him in his 
progress ; but in some cases, at least, he is likely, for his own 
sake, to rescue the most valuable part of the spoil from de- 
struction, if it will only submit to be rescued, and not refuse 
to accept a continued existence on such conditions. A family 
of savages would soon consume and destroy a whole province 
full of wild Cocks and Hens, were it ever so well stocked; but 



32 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

civilized Man can see his interest in their preservation, and it 
is lucky for Fowls that their destiny threw them in contact 
with the Caucasian race instead of Australian aborigines. But 
the increase of knowledge and humanity may even yet do some- 
thing to extend a merciful and forbearing conduct towards ex- 
isting animals. Had the Dodo survived to these days, it might 
perhaps date a renewed term of existence from the day that it 
was subjected to confinement in a menagerie. Now the utter 
destruction of the Dodo appears, if we think of it, to have oc- 
casioned a great loss to mankind: it might have proved a 
valuable addition to our live stock. It was a gallinaceous, or 
rather a columbine bird, covered with fine down. That its 
flesh was good is proved by the fact of the whole race having 
been eaten and consumed in so short a time, though there do 
seem to have been two opinions, some preferring Turtle-dove 
to Dodo. Its weight (fifty pounds) made it of importance; 
its unwieldiness and inability to fly (being an avis not a volu- 
cru) made it easy to confine. It was said to lay numerous 
eggs : but if it produced only two or three young in the year, 
it was at least as prolific as the Sheep. We do not find it 
stated what was the food of the Dodo. Its strong scratching 
feet, powerful digestion, thick neck, and enormous beak, seem 
to indicate that roots might be its main sustenance. Let us 
hope that the beautiful Honduras Turkey will not be permitted 
to be extirpated in like manner. 

The size, inactivity, and sluggishness of such creatures as 
these are the main cause of the extinction they are undergoing 
as wild races; but the common Hen has one peculiar habit, 
which would alone insure the destruction of her progeny in an 
unprotected state, in spite of all her fruitfulness and her great 
maternal virtues. Her delight at having laid an egg, expressed 
by loud cackling, which is joined in by all her companions 
that are at hand, would, by itself, be sufficient to prevent much 
increase of her young. The Latin writers called the cry iin- 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. &6 

gultus, or sobbing, as if she had suffered pain ; the notice thus 
gi\^en of her delivery was equally public at that distance of 
time as now. How the squaws and their picaninnies would 
chuckle to have wild birds abounding around them, that not 
only produced an excellent egg every day, but told them where 
to find it ! But without going into the wilderness, either east 
or west, what would become of the larger ground-nesting birds 
in England, the Water-hen, the Wild-duck (what has become 
of the Bustard ?), if they were not as silent and stealthy in 
depositing their eggs, and leading forth their young, as the Hen 
is noisy and obtrusive ? Even Le Vaillant's ape " Kees" could 
learn to listen for the cacklings of his master's Hens, and steal 
their eggs. 

The habit which so large a bird as the Fowl has of retiring to 
roost by daylight, and composing itself to repose before it is hid- 
den and protected by the shades of night, would also be a certain 
source of danger in a wild state. The craving hunter who 
wanted a meal, need not fatigue himself by a search during 
the noontide heats. He would have but to bear the pangs of 
appetite till evening approached, and then stealing with no 
great caution under the outstretched branches, he would find 
a ready prey distinctly apparent between himself and the ruddy 
glare of sunset. No wild race could survive a few years of 
such facile, such tempting capture. Those who would reply 
by saying that when Cocks and Hens were wild they had not 
fallen into the imprudent fashion of roosting before dark, and 
cackling when they dropped an egg, beg the question which we 
are not disposed to grant them unless they can positively es- 
tablish their claim. 

The antiquity which I thus assume for our existing race of 
Cocks and Hens may perhaps startle some readers; but hear 
Professor Owen on other analogous cases: ''It is probable 
that the Horse and the Ass are descendants of a species of pli- 
ocene antiquity in Europe. There is no anatomical character 



34 THEDOMESTIC FOWL. 

by which the present Wild Boar can he distinguished specifi- 
cally from that which was contemporary with the Mammoth. 
All the species of European pliocene Bovidse came down to the 
historical period, and the Aurochs and Musk-ox still exist; but 
the one owes its preservation to special imperial protection, and 
the other has been driven, like the Eein-deer, to high northern 
latitudes. There is evidence that the great JBos-primigenius, 
and the small Bos-longifrons, which date, by fossils, from the 
time of the Mammoth, continued to exist in this island after it 
became inhabited by Man. The small short-horned pliocene Ox 
is most probably still preserved in the mountain varieties of 
our domestic cattle. The great Urus seems never to have been 
tamed ;'^ note this : " but to have been finally extirpated in Scot- 
land. Of the Cervine tribe, the Ked-deer and the Roe-buck still 
exist in the mountainous districts of the north ; but, like the 
Aurochs in Lithuania, by grace of special protective laws." — 
British Fossil 3Iammals and Birds, Introduction, p. xxxii. 

But if our domestic Fowls were thus early called into ex- 
istence, where are their fossil remains to be found ? The 
probabilities are against our finding them at all. We can 
hardly expect them in any oceanic deposit ] and " extremely 
rare,'^ says Professor Owen, ^^ are the remains of birds in the 
fresh-water deposits, or marine drift of the newer pliocene pe- 
riod, which so abound in Mammalian fossils. The light bodies 
of birds float long on the surface after death ; and for one bird 
that becomes imbedded in the sediment at the bottom, perhaps 
ninety-nine are devoured before decomposition has sufficiently 
advanced to allow the skeleton to sink." — Id. p. 557. It would 
probably be in their supposed original Asiatic home that any 
successful search would be made ; but we ought not to be dis- 
appointed if none are discovered even there. Dr. Buckland, 
in his Heliquiae Diluvianee, mentions twenty-two localities of the 
remains of antediluvian animals, and in only three of them are 
relics of birds found. 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 35 

It certainly has long been tliought that our domesticated 
.creatures^ beasts as well as birds, must necessarily be descended 
from some wild stock, which still exists in an untamed state. 
This petitio principii, this begging of the point at issue, has 
unquestionably led to wrong conclusions, and left a host of 
naturalists, particularly oeconomical writers, planted in the 
midst of difficulties which are still unexplained. Where is 
the wild origin of the sheep, or of the goat, to be found ? 
Some say here, some say there, some fix on this species, some 
on that, and the reader ends by ^'giving it up.'' But take 
the simple theory that many of our domestic animals are the 
survivors of extinct races, survivors, because domesticable, of 
extirpated, because defenceless creatures, and the difficulties 
vanish, and become reconcileable with what we see around us. 
All those species which have of late become, or are likely soon 
to become extinct, disappear because they refuse to be subju- 
gated by man; for example, the yet untamed Aurochs of 
Lithuania, which still survives only by virtue of strict pro- 
tective laws enforced by the Emperor of Russia, and which 
has had all the time, from the epoch of living Mammoths to 
the present day, to become softened in disposition, but still 
refuses to hear the voice of the charmer. In some few sad 
instances, principally of birds, the work of extermination ap- 
pears to have been completed before any fair experiment had 
been tried, as with the Dodo and the Kivi Kivi. Other spe- 
cies, on the contrary, as the Turkey, will probably long sur- 
vive the utter disappearance of their wild progenitors, solely 
on account of having submitted with a good grace to the 
dominion of Man. One of these, the Cereopsis, seems likely 
to owe its rescue to the happy exertions of the Zoological 
Society, which thus becomes an ark of refuge amidst the flood 
of population. 

The Common Cock, the Galhis GalUnaceus and A%sxT;uip of 
the ancients would, at first sight, appear to have received one 



S6 T H E D O M E S T I C F W L. 

or two remarkable changes of form subsequent to its having 
been saved from annihilation by becoming dependent on the 
care of Man, if we can believe domestication to be capable of 
producing such changes. The crest of feathers on the head 
is an extraordinary metamorphosis to have occurred from an 
original fleshy comb. There is no yet discovered instance, 
that I am aware of, of any wild crested breed. Aristotle makes 
such a pointed and so clear a distinction between the feathered 
crests of birds in general, and the combs of cocks, as to lead 
to a strong suspicion that he was unacquainted with Fowls 
with top-knots; which he could hardly have avoided seeing in 
the course of his unequalled opportunities for research, had 
they existed in his day; "certain birds have a crest; in some 
consisting of actual feathers; but that of Cocks alone is pecu- 
liar, being neither flesh, nor yet very different from flesh in 
its nature." — Hist. Aiiim., bookii., chap. xii. towards the end. 
I can find no passage in the classical authors which implies 
that the Cocks and Hens of their day bore a feathered top- 
knot. The Latin crista is at least an ambiguous word. If it 
occasionally means a plumed crest like that of the Hoopoe, it 
is also most pointedly used for a fleshy comb. Pliny, lib. 
xxvii., chap. 93, says, " The Alectorolophus (a plant), which 
with us is called Crista, has leaves like a Cock's comb." This 
passage may not be considered conclusive; because, although 
the Cockscomb is a remarkable and striking plant, he might 
intend to describe some other herb which bore tufts or tassels. 
But in describing the Phoenix (lib. x., chap. 2), he mentions 
that " it is adorned with wattles (using the same word that he 
does to express the comb) on its throat, and a feathered top- 
knot on its head.'' But further on he puts the interpretation 
of the word beyond all doubt. " Messalinus Cotta discovered 
the method of cooking the web of G-eese's feet, and fricaseeing 
them in small dishes along with Cock's combs." — Lib. x., c. 27. 
Not even the Romans would think a tuft of feathers any great 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 37 

delicacy ; and a dish of Cock's combs is one of the few things 
in which modern taste coincides with theirs. The Latin crista 
must not, therefore, be translated by the English crest when 
it has reference to Cocks and Hens. Cirrus is the Latin word 
used by Pliny to denote the tuft of feathers on the head of 
certain Ducks (^fuUgulce), and also properly adopted by Aldro- 
vandi to express the top-knot of Polish Fowls. Theocritus 
calls the Cock ^owvxo'ko^ov. We know something about the 
red combs, but nothing of the red crests of Fowls. 

There is a passage in ^lian, which at first sight would 
appear to contradict the notion that the ancients had no top- 
knotted fowls, but which, in fact, strongly confirms it. 

"And (in India) Cocks are produced of the greatest size, 
and they have a comh which is not red like those of our fowls, 
but variegated like the corolla of flowers ] and they have their 
rump-feathers, not curved nor twisted into screws (as in the 
bird of Paradise), but broad ] and they drag them after them, 
like Peacocks, when they do not erect them and set them up ; 
and the colour of the feathers of the Indian Cocks is golden 
and ca3rulean, like the stone smaragdus.'' — Lib. xvi., c. 2. 
The smaragdus was the emerald ; a metallic lustre is clearly 
indicated. That the bird in question was not the Gallus 
Gallinaceus is certain, from the absence of the sickle feathers 
in the tail. "What it was, is not our bounden duty to decide. 
It is not, moreover, stated that the 7.6^0^, though variegated, 
did consist of feathers. It might have been a helmet, like 
that of the Guinea-fowl. The earliest notice of Crested Fowls 
that I am aware of, occurs in Aldrovandi; one of which sorts 
is "our common country Hen, all white, and with a crest like 
that of a lark,^^ a very useful comparison, that will serve to 
distinguish such-like from the Polish Fowls; the other, what 
he calls the Paduan, evidently a variety of the Polish or Poland. 
If birds with such peculiarities were unknown to the ancients, 
it will be asked through what agency they have made their 



8.8 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

appearance in our days. Are they new species^ the result of 
clever combination and nurture, or of mere chance ? Not con- 
ceiving that they are any thing new under the sun, although 
long unknown to us, I answer at once, No. The mercantile 
enterprise and trading voyages of the English, Dutch, Spaniards, 
and Portuguese, are quite sufficient to explain their arrival, 
without having recourse to a new creation. It is strange that 
any new or remarkable breed, like Sir J. Sebright' s Bantams, 
or the Duke of Leeds' Shackbag, should invariably first appear 
in the poultry -yards of the wealthy, and not in the homestead 
of the small farmer or the cottager. The lately introduced 
Cochin China Fowl, about which there is no mystery, and of 
which her majesty has just reason to be proud, is a case in 
point. But it is not strange or unlikely that gentlemen who 
have succeeded in obtaining some exotic variety, should choose 
to conceal the source and the channel by which it came into 
their hands, or even take credit for having themselves raised 
and generated a breed which excited the curiosity and admira- 
tion of their neighbours. There are several varieties that are 
extinct, or not to be obtained in this country, as the above- 
mentioned Duke of Leeds' Fowl, and the White Poland Fowl 
with a black top-knot.* Attempts have been made to repro- 
duce them, both by the most promising systems of crossing, 
and by acting on the imagination of breeding Fowls, after the 
manner of Jacob's experiments with Laban's flocks; all in 
vain. We can easily understand how certain points in any 
race can be confirmed and made more conspicuous by selection 
and breeding in and in, but we are at a loss to know how to 
go to work to produce something quite original and new. If 
these lost varieties do reappear, and they are both worth the 
trouble they may give, it will probably be by a fresh importa- 
tion from their original Indian home. 

* I seriously doubt the existence of any such fowl. — Ed. 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. S9 

The head-quarters of Domestic Fowl at the present day are 
the islands of Java and Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula, a 
vast extent of but partially explored country, seeing that the 
area of this last alone is very little less than that of G-reat 
Britain. But the prospects opened to natural history by Sir 
James Brooke's occupation of Borneo, and his gradual pacifi- 
cation of the enormous Oriental Archipelago by the suppression 
of piracy, are scarcely appreciable at this early period. Ac- 
cording to the Quarterly Review (July, 1848), no regions of 
equal extent on the surface of the globe supply equally rich 
and varied materials for commerce, ranging from gold and 
gems of the costliest kind, down to the humblest necessaries 
of daily life. Throughout the whole twelve thousand islands, 
at almost every step towards the interior, we have discovered 
^ome new article of merchandise, some valuable kind of timber, 
some odoriferous gum, some species of root, or fruit, or grain, 
not yet included in the catalogue of human food, some rich 
mineral or vegetable dye, calculated to improve the beauty of 
our European fabrics; and yet we have hitherto scarcely 
stepped beyond the threshold of Borneo, Celebes, Palawan, 
Magindanao, or New Gruinea, All beyond the mere fringe of 
the coast is unknown; though rivers of great breadth and 
depth court the entrance of steamers, and promise to reveal 
new lands at every stroke of the paddle. Here is a Paradise 
for poultry fanciers; enough to make one entreat to be ad- 
mitted into the Sarawak service as an attache and volunteer. 
What delight in tracking some secluded river, or exploring 
some lovely valley, to behold in the villages Cocks and Hens 
that would here sell for their weight in silver, if not in gold; 
or perhaps to stumble on unknown Pea-fowl and Pheasants, a 
pair of which would draw half Middlesex and Surrey to the 
Zoological Gardens ! 

The addition of a fifth toe to the foot (the monstra per ex- 
cessum of Blumenbach) as in the Dorking variety, is more 



40 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

likely than the crest to have supervened in the course of time. 
I do not find it mentioned by any earlier writer than Columella. 
The compilers of books on Poultry have stated that it is noticed 
by Aristotle, but I cannot hit upon the passage. In his treatise 
on the Parts of Animals, book iv., chap. 12, he speaks of the 
four toes of birds in general, noticing the peculiarities of the 
Ostrich and the Wryneck, but not a word about the fifth toe 
in Domestic Fowl, which he would scarcely have passed over 
had he ever observed it; particularly as other remarkable cir- 
cumstances, connected with them, such as the development of 
the egg, &c., attracted so much of his attention. From Aris- 
totle to Columella is an interval of about 400 years; quite 
time enough to render such a slight appendage permanent by 
hereditary transmission. The new member would probably 
appear only in a rudimental form at first, and become more 
strongly developed in the course of succeeding generations. 
A Cochin China Cock in my possession has the outer toe of 
each foot furnished with two distinct claws, which we may 
take to be the earliest indication of a fifth toe. His chickens 
inherit the same peculiarity. A correspondent (H. H.) on 
whom I can rely, says, "I had a Cock of the Golden Polish 
variety that lost two of his claws by accident, and in their 
place two smaller joints grew from the end of each toe, both 
provided with little claws. This became hereditary, for next 
season there were two chicks hatched, both having the afore- 
said peculiarity.'' Analogous instances may be seen in Muse- 
ums, of lizards with two tails; the original single one having 
been lost by accident, and two grew in its place. It is said, 
I know not with what truth, that a slight notch made in the 
stump of the decaudated reptile will insure the production of 
a double tail. From the time of Columella to the present 
day, a fifth toe has been the well-known and distinctive cha- 
racteristic of a certain breed. 

Next to the Dog, the Fowl has been the most constant 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 41 

attendant upon Man in his migrations and his^ occupation of 
strange lands. The carnivorous diet of the Dog is one main 
cause of his pre-eminence. But search where you will, except 
in the very highest latitudes, you will find in New Zealand, 
Australia, the American Continents, the West Indies, and in 
islands innumerable, Fowls sharing in the possession and settle- 
ment obtained by Man. As we approach the Poles, difficulties 
arise in the way of their further companionship. In Gi-reen- 
land they are occasionally kept only as curiosities and rarities. 
And Sir Wm. Hooker tells us that Poultry of all kinds is 
quite unknown to the Icelanders, except that a few are now 
and then conveyed to the country by the Danes, who are ob- 
liged at the same time to bring with them a sufficient supply 
of necessary food, i. e. grain, for their support, of which the 
island furnishes none. Fowls, however, would get on very 
well with a fish and meat diet, with grass and vegetables, 
assisted by a little imported corn, were there sufficient induce- 
ment to make the inhabitants take pains about their main- 
tenance. But a little powder and shot procures them an 
abundance of wild-fowl that are much more to their taste; 
and fresh-laid eggs would be little cared for by people, who, 
like the Icelanders, prefer those eggs of the Eider Duck which 
have young ones in them. 

But the most mysterious, though not the most ungenial, 
localities in which Fowls have hitherto been found^ are the 
islands scattered over the vast Pacific Ocean. How they got 
there is as great or a greater puzzle than to divine the origin 
of the human population. The earliest discoverers found the 
people to be possessed of pigs, dogs, and fowls, all domesticated 
for the sake of being eaten. "On the walk to Oree's house 
(in Huaheine), Dr. Sparrman and I (Mr. Gr. Forster, who 
accompanied the expedition as Naturalist) saw great numbers 
of hogs, dogs, and fowls. The last roamed about at pleasure 



42 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

througli the woods, and roosted on fruit-trees." — Cook's JSccoiid 
Voj/a(/c, 1772. 

" Mr. Forster learned from the people the proper name of 
the island, which they call Tanna : . . . . The people of this 
island can be under no such necessity (of eating human flesh) 
for the want of other animal food; they have fine pork and 
fowls, and plenty of roots and fruits." — Ihid. 

" The traditions of the people state that fowls have existed 
in the islands (Tahiti) as long as the people, that they came 
with the first colonists by whom the islands were peopled, or 
that they were made by Taarva at the same time that men 
were made." — Ellis's Polynesian Researches, vol. i., p. 302. 

This account would assign an unfathomable antiquity to the 
domestication of Fowls, confirmed by the following legend : — 

"Mr. Young said, among the many traditionary accounts 
of the origin of the island and its inhabitants, was one, that 
in former times, when there was nothing but sea, an immense 
bird settled on the water and laid an egg, which soon bursting, 
produced the island of Hawaii. Shortly after this, a man and 
woman, with a hog and a dog, and a pair of Fowls, arrived in 
a canoe from the Society Islands, took up their abode in the 
eastern shores, and were the progenitors of the present in- 
habitants." — Ellis's Missicniary Tour through Hawaii. 

" The domestic Fowl was found in the Sandwich Islands 
by their first discoverer, and though seldom used as an article 
of food, is raised for the supply of shipping." — Ihid. p. 9. 

Captain Cook remarked them on islands that had never 
before been visited by civilized Man, and the very wide range 
over which they are distributed precludes the supposition of 
their having been introduced by Tasman or any of the other 
early voyagers. " There is only one tame species of birds, 
properly speaking, in the tropical isles of the South Sea, \'iz. 
the common Cock and Hen : they are numerous at Easter 
Island, where they are the only domestic animals; they are 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 43 

likewise in great plenty in the Society Isles and Friendly Isles, 
at which last they are of a prodigious size ; they are also not 
uncommon at the Marquesas, Hebrides, and New Caledonia ; 
but the low isles, and those of the temperate zone, are quite 
destitute of them." — Mr. Forster's Journal of Captain Cook's 
tiecond Voyage. The pigs have been affirmed to differ specifi- 
cally from the European breeds; less has been said about 
the Poultry. It appears that there are different varieties in 
the different islands, some of very large size. Our great com- 
mercial and political intercourse with the East makes that the 
quarter from whence our importations of Fowls are mostly 
drawn, either as curious specimens, or for the sake of im- 
proving our stock ; but it would certainly be interesting, and 
might prove useful, could we obtain a few new sorts, such as 
the Friendly Island breed, from the less frequented spots in 
the South Seas. Our Colonists and Missionaries in the Sand- 
wich Islands and Tahiti might surely send us a few Cocks and 
Hens in return for the many substantial benefits they have 
derived from the mother country. Mr. Williams's theory, 
which he supports by full details and arguments, is that Poly- 
nesia was originally colonized and occupied by emigrants from 
the Malay peninsula and Sumatra. He says, " so convinced 
am I of the practicability of performing a voyage from Sumatra 
to Tahiti in one of the large native canoes, that, if an object 
of sufficient magnitude could be accomplished by it, I should 
feel no hesitation in undertaking the task.'' — Missionary En- 
terprises, p. 510. He also offers a probable hypothesis for the 
existence of two distinct races of Men in the South Sea Islands, 
both derived from the great Asiatic Islands. If his views are 
correct, we have some slight clue to the introduction of Fowls 
into the isolated recesses of the Pacific Ocean, which only 
makes us the more anxious to get a sight of some genuine 
South Sea Poultry, for the sake of comparing them with the 
East Indian breeds. If they be found to resemble them closely, 



44 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

it will be an additional confirmation of my belief that the lapse 
of ages upon ages is insufiicient to alter any one living creature 
into a new species. And should this little book ever penetrate 
so far into the other hemisphere, let it persuade the Sandwich 
Islanders to preserve by domestication, and by transmission to 
this country, a stock of their most interesting,* pretty, and 
unique little Geese, before the race is quite swept out of 
existence. 

As to the estimation in which Domestic Fowls are justly 
held, it is impossible for me to proclaim their merits ade- 
quately. Every county has a '^strain'' which is superior to 
that of the other fifty-one counties. ^'That strain again,'' as 
the Duke said to the singing-boy. Every neighbourhood has 
some crack breed which is unrivalled elsewhere; every old 
woman, in every village, has some pet Cock or Hen which 
she would not part with for twice its weight in butcher's meat, 
and an ounce of snuff into the bargain : 

**Non, mihi si lingu!» centum sint, oraque centunij 
Ferrea vox, a strong steel pen, unlimited paper," 

could I completely detail the virtues attributed to Cocks and 
Hens. 

Here is a list of " the Phj^sical uses of a Hen and its parts :'' — 

"1. The Jelhj of an old Hen, made of a Hen cut with calves' 

feet, and sheep's feet, or beef, boiled six or seven hours in a 

close vessel, to which you may add spices, or cordial waters, 

is a great strengthener and nourisher. 

^^ 2. Coch Ale is made of HenU flesh (a bit of a bull, surely), 
boiled till the flesh foils from the bones; then it is beaten 
with the bones, and strained for wine or ale with spices. — 
Note. The flesli of Hens is hetter than that of Cochs, except 

* They resemble tlie Anser albifrons in miniature, without the "white 
front. They are so tame and attached as to follow their keeper 
about the house, like dogs. 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 45 

Capons. The Jlesh of a hlack Hen^ that hath not laid, is 
accounted better and lighter. 

"3. Cock-broth is thus made : Tire an old Cock, till he fall 
with weariness, then kill and pluck him, and gut him, and 
stuff him with proper physic, and boil him till all the flesh 
falls off, then strain it. This broth mollifies, and by means of 
the nitrous parts wherewith that decrepit animal is endued, 
and which are exalted by that tiring of him, cuts and cleanseth, 
and moves the belly, the rather if you boil therein purging 
medicines. It is famous for easing the pains of the Colic 
(boiled with purgers and discutients), good against a Cough 
and Tartar of the Lungs (boiled with breast herbs). 

" 4. The Brain thickens and stops fluxes, as that of the 
belly (taken in wine). Women anoint therewith the gums 
of Children to make them breed teeth. 

'^ 5. The inioard tunicle of the Stomach, dried in the sun, 
and powdered, binds and strengthens the stomach, stops vomit- 
ing and fluxes, and breaks the stone. 

"6. Is a virtue rivalling that of Balm of Syriacum. 

" 7. The Gall takes off spots from the skin, and is good for 
the eyes. 

^^ 8. The Grease of Hen or Capon is hot, moist, and softening, 
between the Goose and Hogs^ grease, and obtunds acrimony, 
cures chapt lips, pains in the ears, and pustles in the eyes. 

^'9. The Weasand of a Cock, burnt and not consumed, given 
before supper, is an antidote to the influence of the herb 
Dandelion. 

" 10. The Dung doth all the same that the Pigeon's, but 
weaker; and besides, cures the Colic and pain of the Womb. 
Moreover, it is good especially against the Jaundice, Stone, 
and Suppression of Urine. 

" Note. The white part of the Dung is esteemed the best. 

" Give half a drachm. Morning and Evening, for four or 
five days. 



46 THEDOMESTICFOWL. 

"Outwardly it dries running heads, and other scabs (the 
ashes sprinMed on)" — Willughbi/, book ii., p. 157. 

More medicinal properties are added ; so that a good Hen 
seems to be a perfect walking doctor's shop. Aldrovandi has 
filled more than sixteen large folio pages with an account of the 
medicinal uses of Fowls and their Eggs, both for man and 
beast, which we do not quote here, as they would meet with 
little more serious attention than the foregoing. Hens were 
sacrificed by the ancient pagans to ^sculapius, the G-od of 
Medicine, on account of the services they were supposed to 
render to the health of mankind. Fever, dysentery, melan- 
choly, epilepsy, cough, colic, all yielded to some preparation 
from gallinaceous materials. Even the surgeon was super- 
seded by their virtues. A plaister composed of white of egg 
and white frankincense cured broken bones; the albumen 
alone was a sovereign vulnerary. Oil of eggs regenerated hair 
more surely than Rowland's Macassar. Other preparations 
were remedial against poison, corns on the toes, the bites of 
mad dogs and vipers, and frenzy. In short, every one who 
had a tolerable stock of poultry, had only himself to blame 
if he did not repel the usual ills to which mortal flesh is 
subject. 

It can, therefore, be no trifling amount of intrinsic excellence 
which has earned for them such a universal good opinion. 
Independent of all considerations of profitableness, they are 
gifted with two qualifications, which, whether in man, beast, 
or bird, are sure to be popular; those are, a courageous temper, 
and an afi'ectionate disposition. Add to these, beauty of ap- 
pearance and hardiness of constitution, and it is no wonder 
that each old wife thinks her own stud of Fowls invaluable. 
It is recorded of Catherine the Second of Russia, who was 
great in more senses than one, that she compelled a rival to 
her throne to amuse himself with tending poultry, and "other 
imbecilities.'' The story was meant to tell against her ; but 



THEDOMESTICFOWL. 47 

worse things might be said of her, and perhaps of many other 
jealous tyrants. 

The courage of the Cock is emblematic, his gallantry admi- 
rable, his sense of discipline and subordination most exemplary. 
See how a good Game Cock of two or three years' experience 
will, in five minutes, restore order into an uproarious poultry- 
yard. He does not use harsh means of coercion, when mild 
will suit the purpose. A look, a gesture, a deep chuckling 
growl, gives the hint that turbulence is no longer to be per- 
mitted ; and if these are not efi"eetual, severer punishment is 
fearlessly administered. Nor is he aggressive to birds of other 
species. He allows the Turkey to strut before his numerous 
dames, and the Guinea Fowl to court his single mate unin- 
terrupted ; but if the one presumes upon his superior weight, 
and the other on his cowardly tiltings from behind, he soon 
makes them smart for their rash presumption. His politeness 
to females is as marked as were Lord Chesterfield's attentions 
to old ladies, and much more unaffected. Nor does he merely 
act the agreeable dangler; when occasion requires, he is also 
their brave defender, if he is good for any thing. '^They 
should sometimes offer resistance, and protect their flock of 
wives, and even kill a serpent or other noxious animal that 
threatens danger." — Got. lib. viii., cap. 2. A Hen, that I 
caught to examine, screamed till she called her husband to her 
assistance. Instantly his spur was buried deep in the fleshy 
part of my thumb, nor did his anger cease till the lady was at 
liberty. The same Game Cock, whenever fowls were killed 
for the table, made a point of attacking the man whose busi- 
ness it was to secure them, tore his trowsers, and made all 
possible bold resistance. 

"A Black Polish Cock that our shepherd has, struck him 
the other morning on the temples, as he was catching one of 
the Hens, making the poor fellow faint and bleeding for some 
time. He said '• he did not mind hisself, but if er got vleeing 



48 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

at am of the chlldurn, he'd soon het his head off V I hope he 
will not. Some years back I had an old Silver Polish that would 
spur some time with my hat I if placed before him." — JET. IT. 

The Game Cock is in his native country really a more for- 
midable creature than he is here. "The Dutch doctors are 
of opinion, that certain cases of hydrophobia which have 
occurred in Java, notwithstanding no instance of canine mad- 
ness was ever known on the island, may be attributed to cli- 
mate, and the state of constitution as affected by it. The bite 
of the large Indian rat, commonly called the Bandicoot, is 
supposed to occasion hydrophobia and certain death • an opinion 
which, I understand, is also entertained on the coast of Malabar. 
The bite of an enraged man is said to be as certain of pro- 
ducing hydrophobia as that of a mad dog, two cases of which 
had happened not long before our arrival. Dr. Le Dulx 
mentions several instances of hydrophobia succeeding to the 
bite of enraged animals, as in the case of a boy bit by a Duck 
which he had disturbed in its amours, and of a feeder of Cocks, 
who, being pecked in the hand by one of these animals in 
separating it from its antagonist, died under every symptom 
of hydrophobia and madness." — Barroio's Voyage to Cochin 
China. 

" Omnes in primis Galli Gallinacei vitae actiones veri patris- 
familias, et qui in eo omnem suam curam ponit, et studium, 
ut familiae suse de omnibus necessariis prospiciat, significare 
potest. Hsec enim ales tota die quicquid virium habet, id 
totum ad suorum confert salutem, et nullius rei minus, quam 
sui ipsius solicita est. Unde sapientissimus Pythagoras tarn 
providam animalis, et erga suos promptam naturam considerans, 
dixit, nutriendum quidem Galium esse ; at non immolandum." — 
Aldrovandi. 

The first sentence does not quite construe, but means to say 
that the actions of the entire life of the Gallinaceous Cock 
show that he is a most excellent family man, placing his whole 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 49 

care and study in providing all necessaries for his household. 
For this bird devotes whatever energy he has the livelong day 
to the good of his dependants, and is solicitous about nothing 
less than self. Whence the sage Pythagoras, considering the 
provident and attentive nature of the creature, declared that 
the Cock ought to be cherished, not sacrificed. 

The Hen is deservedly the acknowledged pattern of maternal 
love. When her passion of philoprogenitiveness is disappointed 
by the failure or subtraction of her own brood, she will either 
go on sitting till her natural powers fail, or will violently kid- 
nap the young of other Fowls, and insist upon adopting them. 
A Hen in my neighbourhood was kept incubating eleven weeks 
before she was allowed to lead forth a clutch. One of my own 
took two chickens away from the family of another Hen, and 
went about with them the greater part of the summer. A 
black Bantam belonging to H. H. "had a singular habit of 
adopting in the first instance a single half-grown chick. An- 
other years he actually took a whole brood of eight little things 
off their mother's hands, first doing battle with her for them. 
These chicks she tended carefully for nearly two months, and 
then turned them oiF in the usual way." 

In another case, and one which may be considered more 
extraordinary, a Hen, of rather a violent disposition, was much 
annoyed by a dozen small forsaken chickens repairing to her, 
when she was sitting on some eggs in the crib of an outhouse, 
and nestling under her at night. For a whole week she was 
at constant warfare with these little orphans, pecking them, 
and injuring some of them severely. On a sudden, she seemed 
to change her mind, and from that time became excessively 
fond of them, and in a day or two left her nest eggs, and 
proved a careful and tender mother to them for several months. 
This Hen was a Silver Poland. 

" I witnessed this morning the daring courage of one of my 
Hens, in knocking a Crow, stunned and senseless on the earth, 



50' THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

that had attacked a chick of hers. She did not allow it time 
to seize the chicken, but struck at it with both beak and 
spurs."— ^. H., July 13, 1848. 

"But all Hens are not alike: they have their little whims 
and fancies, likes and dislikes, as capricious and unaccountable 
as those of other females. Some are gentle, others sanguinary ; 
some are lazy, others energetic almost to insanity. Some can 
scarcely be kept out of the house; others say, 'Thank you, but 
rd rather be left to myself.' 

"Finally, they differ in manners and disposition; for besides 
that some are called Domestic, others Wild, even among the 
Domestic ones, some by their very nature are so mild and 
familiar that they cannot get through life without the society 
of mankind; of which I am an eye-witness. For, some years 
ago, I kept at my country-seat a Hen, which, besides keeping 
by herself all day long, and wandering about the house apart 
from the companionship of her fellows, in the evening would 
go to rest nowhere but close to me among my books, and those 
rather big ones (eosque majores), although she was often driven 
away. Some, on the other hand, so far from taking pleasure 
in the society of men, are so shy as to avoid them utterly; 
others are cruel to their own young; others suck the eggs that 
themselves have laid." — Aldrovandi. 

A fact respecting Fowls, that has not been sufficiently re- 
garded, but which goes far to prove their high antiquity, is 
the permanent character of the different varieties. Before 
attending much to the subject, people fancy that crossings and 
intermixtures may be infinitely multiplied and continued, re- 
stricted only by the algebraic law of Permutation and Combi- 
nation ; and such is the current opinion among many who are 
accustomed to see the diverse colours and appearance of Fowls 
promiscuously bred in a farm-yard. But the observant breeder 
knows that such is not the case. Nothing is more difficult 
than to establish a permanent intermediate race between even 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 61 

nearly allied varieties. In a few generations the character 
reverts to that of one or other of the parents ; the peculiarities 
of an old type reappear, and the new cross, on which the fancier 
was beginning to glorify himself, vanishes. The more hetero- 
geneous are the parents, the more sudden is the return to old- 
established characters. The hybrid progeny are either utterly 
barren, or their young exhibit the likeness of their grandfather 
or grandmother, not of their actual parents. 

"I have lately succeeded in producing a most magnificent 
hybrid breed between the Golden and Black Polish, having 
the rich spotted body of the former, and the handsome white 
crest of the latter. This was a work of some difficulty and 
time, and I am still so particular as to think it requires one 
more generation to bring them to perfection. "" — "It struck me 
that the Grolden would be much improved by the handsome 
white crest of the Black Polish. By selecting at first some 
of the former that had a few white feathers on the head, and 
again crossing the best of these Hens with a Polish Cock for 
two seasons, they are at length approaching perfection, and 
will be the best and handsomest breed of all. A trial was 
made vice versd, which brought them perfectly black, with 
immense black heads." — " It is rather a curious fact, that my 
hybrids, though originating from two varieties of Polish, neither 
remarkable for being good incubators, are early and very good 
and steady birds to set, but perhaps not remarkably sweet- 
tempered to other chicks. I cannot explain this, unless we 
take it on the rule that two negatives make an affirmative." 
So far so good. A subsequent report is, " My hybrid chickens 
are beginning to come out, and I find many ^cry back,' as I 
had expected. The only remedy is to hatch a good many, and 
then select. In a few years the breed will be established." — 
M.H. 

Will it? Or is this "crying back" only the beginning 



62 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

of the end? Peisthetaerus may still have to utter his com- 
plaint : — 

" Plague on thee ; but this bird of mine croaks * back again.' " 

However, the latest accounts are favourable. 

This is an instance of the results of crossing between two 
very closely related sorts, and many experimentalizing amateurs 
could produce similar instances. But the results of more dis- 
cordant and ill-assorted matches are more immediate and 
striking. The Zoological Society possessed, in May, 1848, two 
birds bred between the Jungle Fowl (Sonnerat's Cock) and 
the Red Bantam, that bearing the greatest resemblance to the 
Bankiva Cock. Their pedigree and their relationship to each 
species is the same ; namely, three-quarters Bantam and one- 
quarter Jungle Fowl. But they would be pronounced, by most 
persons to whom their origin was unknown, to be, one a Ban- 
tam, the other a Jungle Fowl. In 1849, the keepers informed 
me that, if hybrid chickens between the Jungle and Common 
Fowl are made to go on breeding in and in, the progeny is at 
last so weak, that it is impossible to rear them. A half-bred 
Sonnerat's Jungle and Grame Cock, obtained from the Zoolo- 
gical Society, differs much in voice, carriage, and plumage, 
from any Common Fowl. He is not sterile, having already 
been the parent of chickens, but his disposition is strange and 
cruel : he has already killed one valuable Hen, and severely 
injured others by lacerating their combs and heads. This does 
not look as if the amalgamation of the Jungle and the Domes- 
tic Fowl were a very natural proceeding. '^Le Boi, Lieute- 
nant of the Bangers at Yersailles, put a hen Grolden Pheasant 
to a cock Pheasant of this country, and obtained two cock 
Pheasants very like the common kind : but the plumage had 
a dirty cast, and only a few yellow feathers on the head like 
those of the Golden Pheasant; and these two young males be- 
ing paired with European hen Pheasants, one succeeded the 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 53 

second year, and a hen Pheasant was hatched which could 
never be made to breed. The two Cocks produced no more.^^ — 
Buffon. We reserve for the section on the Pheasant Malay 
Fowl, what is to be said respecting the absurd notion, that a 
cross with the common Pheasant has been instrumental in im- 
proving our Domestic Poultry. Baptista Porta states that he 
himself reared hybrids between a Dove, " Columbus/' and a 
dwarf Hen, which combined the lineaments of either parent. 
We are not told whether they proved prolific or sterile; but, 
in fact, such strange combinations appear to be in a state of 
what mathematicians call ^^ unstable equilibrium" — St. PauFs 
Cathedral turned upside down, and balanced by a cunning 
professor of gymnastics on the tip end of the cross — the cen- 
tre of gravity is in the wrong place, and the least touch, the 
least hair's breadth of wavering, is sufficient to bring down 
ruin. Or an analogy may be imagined forth by those delicate 
chemical unions of matter, such as gunpowder and fulminating 
silver, where the elementary particles are combined indeed, 
but can hardly be moved without one flying one way and one 
another, leaving little that is visible or satisfactory behind 
them. Or a more homely comparison may be drawn from ill- 
made melted butter, which is really not melted butter at all, 
but a delicately manipulated commingling of water, flour, and 
oil. Unless the" cook be skilful, the flour settles in one di- 
rection, the water runs a second way, and the oil floats a 
third; proving tffat melted butter, like gallinaceous monstrosi- 
ties, is an unnatural aflair. The Zoological Society also pos- 
sesses hybrids between the Gruinea Fowl and the Domestic 
Fowl ; curious creatures, that are sterile hitherto, and look as 
if they intended so to remain. Their plumage is barred, not 
spotted, with dirty white and gray ; there is something between 
a ruff and a hackle hanging around their necks; and every 
poulterer who sees them must wonder, not that they do not 
multiply, but that they ever came into the world at all. It is 

6* 



64 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

very important, not only for practical purposes, but also as 
involving a great physiological principle, to show that species 
and varieties are permanent, not ever-changing; that like does 
beget like ; and that creatures are not moulded and modified 
according to circumstances, and do not remodel their members 
or acquire new ones, as the exigency of their situation for the 
time being demands. In the case of Fowls, the theory of pro- 
gressive development and change is certainly unsupported by 
evidence, though they and other domesticated animals are sup- 
posed to be instances in which it is peculiarly likely to be ex- 
emplified. Before the Christian era, the varieties of fowl were 
not less numerous, but in many instances were probably iden- 
tical with what we have at the present day. Columella par- 
ticularly recommends as the best, those sorts that have five 
toes and white ears — the marks of our highly-esteemed breeds, 
the Dorking and the Spanish. He warns his contemporaries 
that Bantams, ^^ pumiliones aves,^^ will prove troublesome, by 
preventing the eggs of larger birds from being properly ferti- 
lized. He dismissed the fighting breed as being foreign to his 
subject, which treated only of profitable sorts, and had nothing 
to do with cock-fighting. He mentions the Tanagric, the Bho- 
dian, the Chalcidic, and the Medic, as tall birds of high cou- 
rage, but prefers their own common sort, " nostrum vernacu- 
lum,^' for economical purposes, allowing, however, that a first 
cross produces fine chickens. " But the Adrianic Hens are 
small indeed ; but they lay every day. They'are ill-tempered, 
and frequently kill the (he does not say their own) young. 
And they are of all sorts of colours." Many of our larger 
Bantams exactly tally to this, particularly in the savage 
propensity to kill chickens which they discover to be substi- 
tuted. 

We may, therefore, infer that our existing Domestic Fowls 
are not improvements or modifications of those Cocks that are 
now found wild in the East, but that they have as much right 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 55 

to be called original varieties or species (whichever term it 
may be thought right to apply to them) as any of those which 
are allowed to rank in the catalogues of the naturalist. The 
converse opinion, namely, that the forms of living creatures are 
undergoing perpetual changes, according to the circumstances 
under which they happen to be placed, has only to be stated 
in the exaggerated length to which some theorists have carried 
it, to refute itself by the outrageous shock it gives to experi- 
ence and common sense. BufiFon thus accounts for the exist- 
ence of various species of Pheasants : — " Since no naturalist or 
traveller has given the least hint concerning the original 
abode of the Black-and-White (our Silver) Pheasant, we are 
obliged to form conjectures. I am inclined to suppose that, as 
the Pheasant of Georgia (the common species of our preserves), 
having migrated towards the east, and having fixed its resi- 
dence in the southern or temperate provinces of China, has be- 
come the Painted (with us Golden) Pheasant, so the White 
Pheasant, which is an inhabitant of our cold climates, or that 
of Tartary, having travelled into the northern provinces of 
China, has become the pencilled or silver kind; that it has 
there grown to a greater size than the original Pheasant, or 
that of Georgia, because it has found in those provinces food 
more plentiful and better suited to its nature; but that it be- 
trays the marks of a new climate in its air, port, and external 
form — in all which it resembles the Painted Pheasant, but re- 
tains of the original Pheasant the red orbits, which have been 
even expanded from the same causes undoubtedly that pro- 
moted the growth of its body and gave it a superiority over the 
ordinary Pheasant." By this sort of gentle transmutation, 
any one bird may be easily manufactured from any other. 
Dr. Erasmus Darwin proceeds boldly to the work, and carries 
it out on a grand scale. "As Linnaeus has conjectured in re- 
spect to th^ vegetable world (where ?), it is not impossible but 
the great variety of species of animals, which now tenant the 



56 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

earth, may have had their origin from the mixture of a few 
natural orders. 

'^Such a promiscuous intercourse of animals is said to exist 
at this day in New South Wales, by Captain Hunter. And 
that not only amongst the quadrupeds and birds of different 
kinds, but even amongst the fish, and, as he believes, amongst 
the vegetables. He speaks of an animal between the opossum 
and the kangaroo, from the size of a sheep to that of a rat. 
Many fish seem to partake of the shark; some with a skait's 
head and shoulders, and the hind part of a shark ; others with 
a shark's head and the body of a mullet; and some with a 
shark's head and the flat body of a sting-ray. Many birds 
partake of the Parrot : some have the head, neck, and bill of 
a Parrot, with long straight feet and legs; others with legs and 
feet of a Parrot, with head and neck of a Sea-gull."* — Zooiw- 
mia, vol. i., p. 499. 

Again he continues, even yet more adventurously : — 
" Another great want felt by animals consists in the means 
of procuring food, which has diversified the forms of all spe- 
cies. Thus, the nose of the swine has become hard for the 
purpose of turning up the soil in search of insects and of roots. 
The trunk of the elephant is an elongation of the nose for the 
purpose of pulling down the branches of trees for his food, and 
for taking up water without bending his knees. Beasts of 
prey have acquired strong jaws or talons. Cattle have ac- 
quired a rough tongue and a rough palate to pull off the 
blades of grass, as cows and sheep. Some birds have acquii-ed 
beaks adapted to break the harder seeds, as sparrows. Others 
for the softer seeds or flowers, or the buds of trees, as the 
Finches. Other birds have acquired long beaks to penetrate the 

* Some of our decoy-men call the Godwit a "half-bred Curlew ; " 
whether they have any belief in such a pedigree, they could not, 
perhaps, themselves declare. 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 67 

moister soils in search of insects or roots, as WDodcocks; and 
others broad ones to filtrate the water of lakes, and to retain 
aquatic insects. All which seem to have been gradually pro- 
duced during many generations^ hy the perpetual endeavour of 
the creatures to supply the want of food, and to have been deli- 
vered to their posterity with constant improvement of them, for 
the purposes required. 

"Would it then be too bold to imagine, that all warm- 
blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which 
the great First Cause endued with animality, with the power 
of acquiring new parts, attended with new propensities, di- 
rected by irritations, sensations, volitions, and associations ; and 
thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own 
inherent activity, and of delivering down those improvements 
by generation to its posterity, world without end !" — Id. vol. i. 
p. 505. 

These extracts are not given from any disrespect to the abi- 
lities or intentions of the writers, for they were both men to 
whom science is much indebted, but to show what strange and 
startling conclusions may be arrived at by arguing from pre- 
mises that are not founded on proved facts, but on plausibility 
and fashionable hypothesis merely. But we will now main- 
tain unhesitatingly, that it was not man or his domestication, 
or any inherent tendency in the creatures themselves, that gave 
feathered crests to the Poland Fowl, dwarfed the Bantam, ex- 
panded the Dorking, enlarged the Malay and Cochin-China 
Fowl, inspired courage to the Grame Cock, or made the Hen, 
next to Woman, the most exemplary of mothers : unless we 
believe it was Man who arranged the strata in the ribs of the 
earth, and prescribed to the sea its everchanging boundaries. 
Man is powerful to have dominion; Grod alone is potent to 
create — His Providence to overrule. Not by Man, nor Chance, 
nor by generative force of an idol called Nature, have the 
things which we see, and the diversities in our living fellow- 



58 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

creatures, been brought about. No ; most thankfully, no . 
Then would matters have been far less harmoniously, far less 
benignantly arranged. It is our greatest consolation to feel 
assured that all the physical changes which this earth has un- 
dergone, and every renovation of its inhabitants, have been 
from the beginning foreordained by that all- wise and all-power- 
ful Being, in whose presence (and we are ever in His pre- 
sence) the best and greatest of us would be crushed into 
nothingness, did we not, to our comfort, believe that He is 
not the Creator merely, but the Father and Protector of every 
animated creature. "These wait all upon Thee, that Thou 
mayest give them meat in due season. When Thou givest it 
them, they gather it, and when Thou openest Thy hand, they 
are filled with good. When thou hidest Thy face, they are 
troubled. When Thou takest away their breath they die, and 
are turned again to their dust." 



59 



CHAPTER II. 

THE REARING AND MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 

I CANNOT but think that Mr. Dixon underrates the profitable- 
ness of good Fowls in the keeping of intelligent breeders ; they 
may be unproductive in ignorant and careless hands, but not so 
when properly attended to. I understand that a very respect- 
able gentleman of Rhode Island, quite experienced in the 
breeding and management of all kinds of Fowls, is wont to 
say, that four acres of land, devoted to the rearing of the best 
varieties of poultry, will, at common prices, be quite as pro- 
ductive as a farm of 150 acres cultivated in the ordinary way. 
The eggs of the common and cheaper kinds which might be 
used for incubators and nurses, would pay, or could be made 
to pay, if preserved as herein directed, and sold at the proper 
time, all expenses of feed, etc.; and it is well known that good 
Capons of the larger breeds will bring in any of our larger 
markets from 3 to 5 dollars per pair, and early spring chick- 
ens from 20 to 25 cts per pound. To make poultry profitable, 
then, it is only necessary that the better kinds be bred from, 
that suitable places be provided for them^, that they be proper- 
ly fed, and carefully and intelligently managed — things which 
have rarely conspired in any one instance heretofore to enable 
us to judge what might be made out of poultry under the most 
favourable circumstances. I have deemed this preliminary 
remark necessary before introducing the reader to what Mr. 
Dixon has further to say on the rearing and management of 



60 THE REARING AND 

Fowls. He says : — There are two classes of Fowl-breeders : 
those who rear them for amusement, and for the convenience 
of having a few chickens at hand to kill, and a few Hens on 
the goodness of whose eggs they can depend; and those whose 
only object is to increase their stock as fast as possible, as a 
matter of business, and solely for gain and profit. It may 
safely be stated that the number of those who can strictly be 
included in this latter division is extremely limited. Even 
the poor cottager who has just a couple of Hens, and is depend- 
ent upon some richer neighbour for a supply of eggs that will 
produce chickens, keeps them more because she finds pleasure 
in seeing the good creatures busying about with their broods, 
than for any profitable advantage she is likely to get by them. 
If she be poor, with a large family, she no more presumes to 
indulge herself with keeping Fowls, than she would with a 
caged Lark, or Groldfinch, or Thrush.* If she be lone and in- 
dustrious, and so have a trifle to spare, or be the childless 
wife of a thrifty husband, she may gratify her pride with 
Cocks and Hens, to the envy of her neighbours. Even on 
large farms it is more as save-alls and collectors of scattered 
fragments, which would otherwise be wasted, that Fowls are 
serviceable. And if the farmer were to charge his wife with 
all the corn consumed in their rearing and fatting, we may 
venture to assert that a much smaller supply of them would be 
sent to market. These observations are less applicable to 
Ducks, Greese, and Turkeys; but in no case is any account 
taken of the time their tending demands, that being considered 
as part of the household routine, or even in the light of a re- 
laxation. It is not by those who usually rear chickens that 
large profits are made, although the gross sum returned at the 



^ A laT/ing hen can be kept on good corn at an expense of only 
2 cts. per week. Where chickens have a run, they can be raised for 
half what they may be sold for. — Ed. 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 61 

end of the year may appear to be large.* The greatest gain- 
ers are the travelling dealers who scour the country, and buy, 
for the lowest farthing they can get them, small lots of Fowls 
and eggs here and there, the superabundant produce of various 
housewives, either disposing of them immediately at advanced 
prices, or shutting up the birds at once to be fatted f^ mar- 
ket. The poulterers and feeders on a large scale in great 
towns doubtless derive a remunerating trade. It is the middle 
men who are the principal gainers. And when we shall have 
succeeded in producing peaches and nectarines for the million 
for dessert, we may calculate on rearing Poultry for the mil- 
lion for dinner. 

Those who set about keeping Fowls, as amateurs for the 
first time, to whom alone we address ourselves, are recommended 
to begin with a limited number, such as a Cock and four or 
five Hens, of some distinct and choice breed; or, if it be de- 
sired to test the value of different sorts of Hens, one or two 
of them may be admitted, care being taken to separate all the 
cross-bred progeny for the fatting coop and the dinner-table. It 
will add to the amusement derived, if, in the first instance, 
strong three-quarter grown chickens are procured, instead of 
adult birds, so that an opportunity is given of watching their 
progress to maturity. 

As to fowl-houses and other accommodations, so much de- 
pends upon circumstances, that minute directions are almost 
impertinent. The three grand requisites are cleanliness, dry- 
ness, and warmth. Those who wish for any thing on a large 
scale, will find plenty of plans and descriptions in books, so 
that if they choose they may lay out as much money in a hen- 
house as would build a comfortable cottage ornee. But most 



* The gross proceeds of eggs and poultry sold in the U. States 
amount to twenty millions of dollars. In 1840, it was 12,176,170 
dollars. — Ed. 

6 



62 THE REARING AND 

people have little choice in the matter: they must take or 
adapt such conveniences as they find around them. The 
Fowls themselves are not very fastidious; but we may be sure 
that the more we attend to the comforts of our domestic ani- 
mals, the more they will reward our trouble. 

In the first place, then, the Fowls should have a good roof 
overhead. IMany such outbuildings are merely tiled, my own, 
till lately, among the number. During summer this con- 
struction is the best, as all night long the house is ventilated 
with warm air passing through the interstices of the tiles that 
have been heated by the sun the whole day. Of course the 
roof is supposed to be in such good repair, and the tiles so 
well overlapped, .that no drippings of water from above are 
admitted. But in winter such draughts are very injurious, 
particularly as the Fowls will roost as near to the roof as they 
can get, so that their head, the most sensitive part, is most ex- 
posed to the influence of cold. In the autumn of 1847 I lost 
several favourite birds — a valuable Turkey among the number 
— solely from this cause, as I believe. The expense of ceiling 
with lath and plaster is trifling, the winter comfort of the 
Fowls must be much increased, and with it their health and 
profitableness. Leaving the door open for a while every day 
will sufficiently change the air in any weather. 

Some people allow their Fowls to roost abroad all night, 
in all weathers, in hawthorn or elder-trees, that stand near the 
fowl-houses. But the plan is a slovenly mode of keeping even 
the humblest live stock : it offers a temptation to thieves, and 
the health of the Fowls cannot be improved by their being 
soaked all night long in drenching rain, or having their feet 
frozen to the branches. There is no difficulty in accustoming 
any sort of poultry, except the Peafowl, to regular housing 
at night. 

Rough poles, two or three inches in diameter, with the hark 
left on, make the best roosting perches; to which a hen-ladder 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 63 

should afford a convenient means of ascent, to save tlie birds 
the strain of flying up, and perhaps frequent falls in conse- 
quence of failure. A hen-ladder is an iiidispensahle piece of 
furniture^ though frequently absent. The nests or laying 
places may be either wooden fixtures contiguous to the wall, 
or the Hens may be accommodated with shallow hampers here 
and there, out of the way of dirt, and easily reached.* The 
fixed nests should be thoroughly whitewashed inside and out, 
at least once a month during summer, to destroy fleas, &c. 
The hampers may be taken down, shaken out, and completely 
purified at intervals. 

It is as well to have the fixed laying places made not larger 
than is sufficient to accommodate a full-sized Hen, in order to 
prevent two or more Hens from quarrelling for the same nest. 
I have seen excellent laying and sitting-boxes, of a convenient 
capacity, built with brick-work, up against one or more sides 
of the fowl-house, much in the same way as is seen in the 
lockers in old-fashioned manorial dovecotes. Each box was 
fitted with a loose, thin wooden bottom, to slide over th^ 
bottom of stone or brickwork, and having a half-inch rim in 
front, to keep the eggs from rolling out. The plan is a good 
one. After each sitting, the sliding bottom of the box can be 
taken out, scoured and scalded, and the brickwork washed and 
white-washed, as may the wooden slide also. A great con- 
venience, especially where a numerous and various head of 
poultry is kept, will be found in a range of small separate 
fowl-houses about a cubic yard or a little more in size, each 
with its own door fastened by a button, and a latticed aperture 
to admit air over the door. Into these, each breeding fowl, 
with her young, can be separately driven from the coops at 
night, and remain there without disturbance or quarrels till 
the proper time to go abroad next day. Each of these private 

* Vide Mr. David Taggart's letter at the end of this chapter.— Ed. 



64 THE REARING AND 

apartments can be gravelled or littered, according to the re- 
quirements of their occupants, and supplied with pans of water, 
green turves, a cabbage, a handful of corn, or whatever else is 
wanted. A recent traveller in Connemara found the cottagers' 
Hens accommodated with neatly worked straw-b"askets, fashioned 
like a reticule, or a watch-pocket at the bed's head. These 
were hung up against the wall at one end of the hovel for the 
Hens to lay in ; the reason for the arrangement being, that 
the sow and pigs occupied the other end, and would surely 
devour any eggs that were laid on the ground. Though eggs 
fetched only fourpence a score, it would not do to lose them : 
other provisions bore proportionate prices. The paradox 
of starvation amidst cheapness and abundance is extremely 
puzzling. 

If the floor of the fowl-house can be swept every day, and 
sprinkled with fresh sand, gravel, or ashes, so much the better. 
Dust and cobwebs on the walls, and up the corners, are neither 
a decoration nor an advantage. Cobbett says that no pigsty 
is what it ought to be, unless it is clean enough and dry 
enough for a man, upon a pinch, to pass a night in it with 
tolerable comfort; we say that no fowl-house is what it ought 
to be, unless it is in such a state as to afford a lady, without 
offending her sense of decent propriety, a respectable shelter 
on a showery day. A false ceiling of wood suspended beneath 
the roosting perches is a mode sometimes adopted of keeping 
the floor of the house clean, by catching the dung as it falls 
from the Fowls; but the plan requires extreme cleanliness on 
the part of the attendants; the filth out of sight is apt to be 
out of mind, and allowed to accumulate, and is also brought 
too close under the Fowls themselves, even if it be removed 
daily. To close all, a good door is requisite, with a small 
wicket gate at the bottom, to allow ingress and egress. It 
is better that Turkeys should not roost in the same house, as 
they are apt to be cross to sitting and laying Hens; if they 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 65 

do, the wicket must be of proportional size. My readers, I 
hope, will not be offended at a hint that a hole that will admit 
a Turkey, will also allow a Hen to pass; and that there is no 
need to make a smaller aperture by the side of the larger, 
unless they like the look of it. A first-rate lock can do no 
harm on the door, as Columella advises, "That no cats or 
snakes have access to the birds, and that other equally noxious 
pests* be kept at a distance." Possibly even in classical times 
there were such creatures as fowl-stealers. 

With peace and plenty the newly arrived young Fowls will 
thrive apace. Soon after they are full-grown, the comb both 
of the Cock and the Hens will be observed to become of a more 
brilliant red, the Cock will crow more lustily, and with more 
of a canto fermo than before, the Hens will grow animated, 
restless, full of busy importance, as if a new idea had lately 
broke in upon their minds. By-and-by they will commence 
prating and cackling, and in a few days the delighted Pullet 
will lay her first egg. It is hard to say which receives the 
most pleasure at contemplating the smooth, immaculate pro- 
duction, the Hen or her amateur owner, f And when, time 
after time, the first instalment is followed by similar deposits, 
she thinks herself, and is thought, a perfect paragon. Such 
are the pleasures of productiveness. Those whose inherited 
wealth comes to them quarterly or annually, without any 
thought or exertion on their part, have no conception how 
bright and beautiful the money looks of which they can say, 
'^I have fairly and honestly earned it; I have done something 
useful for it.'' So with the Hen ; she is an industrious little 
save-all. She rescues from waste many a minute portion of 



* "Pestis, a rogue, a villain." — Ainsworth^s Dictionary. 

f The very first egg, however, which a Pullet lays is seldom quite 
immaculate, but bears marks of the efi'ort it has cost : those subse- 
quently laid appear with greater purity. 

6* 



66 THE REARING AND 

nutritious matter, collects it in her crop, and converts it into 
wholesome food for Man. After a while her own turn comes 
to be served; the pleasures of motherhood must be accorded 
to her. Nature has been sufficiently tasked in one direction; 
she becomes feverish, loses flesh, her comb is livid, her eye 
dull. She sees in her heated fancy her young ones crowding 
around her, bristles her feathers to intimidate an imaginary 
enemy, and, as if they were already there, she utters the 
maternal *^ cluck" — " chioccia^' — ^^ glocientes" — " clock-hens;" 
"Sic enim apellant rustici aves eas quie volunt incubare." 

In no other bird, that I am aware, is the desire of incuba- 
tion thus manifested. I am very much inclined to attribute 
it to the imagination of the Fowl anticipatiog the duties that 
are to follow. The cry is exactly the same, although other 
various tones are afterwards made use of; for example, the 
acute voice with which she calls her chicks to partake of some 
dainty, which is also used by the male bird to assemble his 
Hens on a similar occasion, — and the short staccato note which 
gives warning of danger from a hawk, or a strange dog. In- 
deed, the language of Fowls, though inarticulate, is sufficiently 
fixed and determined for 2(*' to know what some of it means. 
But the Hen that "clucks" is evidently thinking about her 
future young; and she is not alone in indulo-inw such dreams 
of offspring. A caged Virginian Nightingale has been re- 
corded to go through the pantomimic actions of feeding its 
brood in the spring ( Gard. Jlaijf.). A Bantam Hen was barren, 
but always entered the nest daily, never laying; but at last 
became broody, was supplied with eggs, and proved an excellent 
sitter and mother. 

When the determination to sit becomes fixed, — there is no 
need to indulge the fii-st faint indications immediately — let her 
have the nest she has selected well cleaned and filled with 
fresh straw. The number of eggs to be given to her will 
depend upon the season, and upon theh- and her own size. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 67 

The wisest plan is not to be too greedy. The number of 
chickens hatched is often in inverse proportion to the number 
of eggs set; I have known only five to be obtained from six- 
teen. Hens will in general well cover from eleven to thirteen 
eggs laid by themselves. A Bantam may be trusted with 
about half-a-dozen eggs of a large breed, such as the Spanish. 
A lien of the largest size, as a Dorking, will successfully 
hatch at the most five Goose's eggs. But if a Hen is really 
determined to set, it is useless as well as cruel to attempt to 
divert her from her object. The means usually prescribed are 
such as no humane person would willingly put in practice. 
If the season is too late or too early to give a hope of rearing 
gallinaceous birds, the eggs of Ducks or Geese may always be 
had; and the young may be brought up, with a little pains- 
taking, at any time of the year. And if it be required to 
retain the services of a Hen for expected valuable eggs, she 
may be beguiled for a week or ten days with four or five old 
addled ones till the choicer sort arrive. 

Three weeks is the period of incubation of the common 
Hen.* Sometimes when she do^s not sit close for the first 
day or two, or in early spring, it will be some hours longer; 
more rarely in this climate, when the Hen is assiduous and 
the weather is hot, the time will be a trifle shorter. The 
growth of the chick in the egg has been so fully and so well 
described by many writers, from Aristotle down to Reaumur, 
that I need merely refer the reader to them. The observa- 
tions of the latter particularly have appeared in almost every 
compilation that has been published on the subject; and I 
must think it better taste for common inquirers to betake 
themselves to such sources of information, illustrated as they 



* I have, in warm weather, had chicks at the endjof the 18th day; 
and a friend E. R. C. assures me that he had some to come out on 
the 27th day.— Ed. 



68 THEREARINGAND 

are by good engravings, than to desire that a set of half-hatched 
eggs should be broken to gratify their curiosity. A shattered 
and imperfectly formed chick, struggling in vain in the fluid 
that ought to perfect its frame, till it sinks in a gradual and 
convulsive death, is a horrible spectacle, though on a small scale. 

"The shell of all Eggs, when newly laid, is nearly half as 
thick again as it is when the young bird has to penetrate it. 
Otherwise, especially in the case of some thick-shelled Eggs, 
those of the Gruinea-Fowl for instance, the tender little creatures 
would be scarcely equal to the task. As to what becomes of 
the other part of the shell, there is an ingenious theory by 
Knapp. ' The shell of the egg appears to be designed for the 
accomplishment of two purposes. One of the offices of this 
calcareous coating, which consists of carbonate and phosphate 
of lime, is to unite with the white of the Egg, and form, during 
incubation, the feathers and bone of the future young one; 
but as a large portion of this covering remains after the young 
are produced, its other object is to guard from injury the parts 
within!'"— ^.^. 

Shortly before the time of hatching arrives, the chickens 
may be heard to chirp and tap against the walls of their shell. 
Soon a slight fracture is perceived towards the upper end, 
caused by foi'ce/rojn within. The fracture is continued around 
the top of the egg,* which then opens like a lid, and the little 
bird struggles into daylight. The tapping which is heard, 
and which opens the prison doors, is caused by the bill of the 
included chick : the mother has nothing to do with its libera- 
tion, beyond casting the empty shells out of the nest. At the 
tip of the bill of every new-hatched chick, on the upper surface, 
a whitish scale will be observed, about the size of a pin's head, 
but much harder than the bill itself. Had the beak been 



* I have known tlie fracture occasionally to be towards the small 
end ; in such cases the chick may require assistance. — Ed. 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 6» 

tipped with iron to force the shell open, it would not have 
been a stronger proof of creative design than is this minute 
speck, which acts as so necessary an instrument. In a few 
days after birth, when it is no longer wanted, it has disap- 
peared ; not by falling off, I believe, which would be a waste 
of valuable material, but by being absorbed and becoming 
serviceable in strengthening the bony structure, minute as the 
portion of earthy substance is. And yet some people direct, 
that as soon as the chick is hatched, this scale should be forced 
off with the finger nail, because it is injurious ! 

All chicks do not get out so easily, but may require a little 
assistance. The difficulty is, to know when to give it. They 
often succeed in making the first breach, but appear unable to 
batter down their dungeon walls any further. A rash attempt 
to help them by breaking the shell, particularly in a downward 
direction towards the smaller end, is often followed by a loss 
of blood, which can ill be spared. It is better to wait a while* 
and not interfere with any of them, till it is apparent that a 
part of the brood have been hatched some time, say twelve 
hours, and that the rest cannot succeed in making their ap- 
pearance. After such wise delay, it will generally be found 
that the whole fluid contents of the egg, yolk and all, are taken 
up into the body of the chick, and that wearkness alone has 
prevented its forcing itself out. The causes of such weakness 
are various; sometimes insufficient warmth, from the Hen 
having sat on too many eggs; sometimes the original feeble- 
ness of the vital spark included in the egg, but most frequently 
staleness of the eggs employed for incubation. The chances 



* On finding an egg to be cracked, and no progress made during the 
space of six hours, I have ventured with the point of my knife to 
render a little gentle assistance, but on seeing any trace of blood, I 
instantly desist, and return the egg to the nest. Such egg must, 
however, be watched as assistance finally may be necessary. — Ed. 



70 THE REARING AND 

of rearing such, chicks are small^ but if they get over the first 
twenty-four hours they may be considered as safe. But all 
the old wives' nostrums to recover them are to be discarded : 
the merest drop of ale may be a useful stimulant, but an in- 
toxicated chick is as liable to sprawl about and have the breath 
trodden out of its body as a fainting one. Pepper-corns, gin, 
rue, and fifty other ways of doctoring, are to be banished afar, 
together with their subjects, namely, 

"All the unaccomplislied works of Nature's hand, 
Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed, 
Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars, 
Into a Limbo large and broad, since called 
The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown.''^ 

The only thing to be done, is to take them from the Hen 
till she is settled at night, keeping them in the meanwhile as 
snug and warm as possible. If a clever, kind, gentlehanded 
little girl could get a crumb of bread down their throats, it 
would do no harm j but all rough, violent, clumsy manipula- 
tion is as bad as the throat-tickling of the hard-fingered hang- 
man. Animal heat will be their greatest restorative. At 
night let them be quietly slipped under their mother; the 
next morning they will be either as brisk as the rest, or as flat 
as pancakes and dried biflB.ns. 

Those who have ever undertaken the amusing task of tending 
a brood of chickens from the shell, must have observed the 
great change of apparent size which the first few hours pro- 
duce. At the time when I had an affectionate assistant in 
such matters, we used often to remark, how impossible it 
would be to re-pack again in the same shell the creature which 
was contained in it only a little while ago. We certainly 
never tried the experiment, but the eye could measure with 
some degree of accuracy, besides allowing for the elastic coat 
of down which before had been flattened by moisture. How 
could the vivacious little wretch have made such a sudden 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 71 

start? Not from what it had eaten or drunk, certainly. The 
solution appears to lie in the fact which the best comparative 
anatomists have recorded, that the bodies of most birds are 
injected with air to a considerable extent. While the embryo 
remains in the shell, its vascular parts are compressed, or 
contain merely fluid for future nourishment, but as soon as 
the lungs come fairly into play, air is made to inflate many 
an unsuspected cavity, even, perhaps, to the tip of every fila- 
ment of down. Chamaslion-like, the chick makes a good meal 
on the atmosphere. A case in point may be seen when the 
shell of a chrysalis is disrupted by the emerging butterfly; 
and the process is so absolutely magical, that those who have 
never witnessed it will be amply repaid for their trouble, if 
they collect a few chrysalides (those of the gooseberry-moth, for 
instance) out of their garden, and keep them under a tumbler 
in their dressing-room, or on their side-board or writing-table, 
or wherever they are most likely to secure the chance of being 
in at the birth. The black, hairy, quick-running caterpillar, 
which is so common, may be secured, fed upon common 
groundsel, and will speedily be metamorphosed into a hand- 
some tiger-moth. Ten minutes after it has burst its shelly 
covering, — 

"Not all the Queen's horses, and all the Queen's men, 
Could get tiger-moth into his shell again." 
It creeps out with a little moisture adhering to it, the wings 
appear merely rudimental, soon it is seized with a shivering 
fit, it grows larger with every successive attack of tremulous- 
ness, the wings may be seen to extend as a curtain is let down, 
the moisture is absorbed or evaporated, its breathing-places in 
its sides are at work, it is thoroughly injected with air, and 
none but those who know the whole truth would believe, on 
seeing the narrow case by the side of the expanded insect, 
that Euclid had been practically contradicted, and that the 
greater had been contained within the less. The chicks of 



72 THE REARING AND 

Turkeys and Guinea Fowls exhibit tliis sudden expansion even 
more strikingly than those of Cocks and Hens. 

But what are we to do with the new-come chickens ? Let 
us leave them quiet with their mother six or eight hours, or 
till the next morning. Now is the time to listen to quackeries, 
and fooleries, and heaps of babble and rubbish, if we do not 
choose the better part of being as deaf as stones. How won- 
derful must be the productive energy which is at work in the 
universe, to replace the myriads of chickens and children that 
have been laid low by sage nursing ! Whole pepper-corns, 
gin, laudanum, tight-swaddling, cramming, dips into cold 
water, suffocation with foul air, make us wonder that either 
biped, plumed or unplumed, is to be found in any other than 
a fossil state. 

A roomy, boarded coop, in a dry sunny spot, is the best 
position for them during the first month ; after which it may 
be left open during the day for the Hen to retire to when she 
pleases. In quiet grassy places, such as one sees on the skirts 
of green commons and by the sides of country churchyards, 
the Hen need scarcely be cooped at all. As to food, let them have 
every thing which is not absolutely poisonous.* Sloppy matters 
are better avoided till the little things are old enough to eat a 
few grains of good barley, which they are before it is usually 
suspected ; afterwards they do no harm. A little wheat, of 
the best sample, will then not be thrown away upon them. 
Meat and insect diet are almost necessary ; but raw vegetables 
chopped small, so grateful to young Turkeys, are caviare to 
chickens. But whatever be the bill of fare, the meals must 



* If wet food be given, the chick is obliged to take water, whether 
it require it or not, in order to get a sufi&cient supply of solid food, 
and diseased bowels will be likely to follow ; whereas, if the food be 
dry, they can supply themselves with food and water according to 
their pleasui-e. — Ed. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 73 

be given at short intervals ; as much as they can swallow, as 
often as they can eat. The reader will please to remember that 
when he came into the world, all that was expected of him was 
to grow and be good-natured. He had not to provide his long- 
clothes out of his mother's milk, nor to elaborate pinafores 
from a basin of soaked biscuit; but for poor little chickens, 
the only known baby-linen warehouse is situated in their own 
stomachs. And with all their industry, they are only half- 
clad till flesh and bone stop growing for a while, and allow 
down and feathers to overtake them. 

The period at which they are left to shift for themselves 
depends upon the disposition of the Hen. Some will continue 
their attentions to their chicks till they are nearly full grown, 
others will cast them oif much earlier. In the latter case, it 
may be as well to keep an eye upon them for a few days till 
they have established themselves as independent members of 
the gallinaceous community. For chickens in this half-grown 
state are at the most critical period of their lives. They are 
now much more liable to disease than when they were appa- 
rently tender little weaklings crowded under their mother's 
wings. It is just before arriving at this point of growth, that 
artificially hatched chickens are so sure to fail, whether hot air, 
hot water, or sheepskin, be the substitute for the mother's 
care. Mere incubation has long ago been performed artificially 
with success in various ways. Any lady or gentleman, at any 
time of the year, can effectually complete that process by 
means of a spirit-lamp and a sand-bath in their study or bou- 
doir. The mere hatching of chickens deserves little credit, 
however ingeniously it is done. But to rear them on a great 
scale is the difficulty that has not yet been surmounted in this 
country. A visit to the purveyors of Poultry for the Million 
is not repaid by the sight of an approach to the fulfilment of 
their great promises. They hatch, but they cannot rear, and 

7 



74 THEREARINaAND 

are not likely to do so.* The chicks for the first week or two 
look well enough, and it is not to be expected that the very 
first seeds of disorder should be apparent ; but no farmer's 
wife would be pleased that her stock had the look of those that 
get to be six weeks or two months old. Compare the tables 
of mortality amongst infants in the French Foundling Hospi- 
tals with those calculated on the families of healthy English 
cottagers, and the contrast will be a guide to the relative me- 
rits of the natural and the artificial modes of rearing Chickens, 
Turkeys, and Gruinea-fowl. And what becomes of the Hens 
belonging to such establishments which desire to sit, but are 
prevented on principle from doing so, on eggs at least ? They 
are just put up to fatten as soon as they become broody, and 
after a certain time killed to be eaten. No one who knew 
any thing about Fowls would select such for his table from 
choice. It cannot be expected that those Professors, who are 
unable to raise sufficient chickens for the supply of a small 
neighbourhood, should be able to communicate the art of afford- 
ing plenty to a nation, even by means of a patented apparatus 
and an expensive license. Were all the chickens reared that 
axe hatched by Hens alone, poultry would be much more 
abundant than it is at present. The artificial hatching of 
Ducks and Geese is a more promising speculation than the 
same attempt upon Fowls ; but if it were entered upon to any 

* My friend H. L. Devereux, Esq., of Declliam, Mass. writes me, 
<* My experience in raising Fowls is, that the young chicks are as 
well ofiE" without a Hen as with, provided you give them a dry, xoarm 
place, they need much to be kept dry. I have this season raised 
about a dozen fine pullets of the Foi'bes Stock, loiihout a Hen, which 
did better than those I let run with a hen. I gave them to eat, 
cracked corn, wet with water or milk, curd, broken wheat, bread, 
some potatoes, and, in fact, they will eat almost any thing you throw 
to them." — Ed. 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 75 

extent, it would be found that the expenses of superintendence 
and nursing more than absorb all profit. 

The artificial hatching described by Fortune ( Wanderings, 
p. 7S), as successfully carried on in Chusan, was only practised 
on Ducks ; and the season when he saw it in operation was 
the end of May, a time of year when there would be little 
difiiculty in rearing Ducklings so produced in England, if time 
and trouble were disregarded. 

As to fattening fowls, Mr. Dixon says, the old Dutch mode 
is by no means a bad one. 

" Cardan is the authority, that if you mingle fat lizard (?),* 
saltpetre, and cummin, with wheat flour, and feed Hens on 
this food, they will get so fat, and the people who eat them 
will grow so stout, as to burst. John Jacob Wecker records 
that he learnt the following secret of fatting Hens from a 
certain Hollander. ^In the kitchen/ he says, ^make to your- 
self a box, divided into many little boxes, each one with its 
own opening, through which the Hens can thrust their heads 
out of doors, and take their food. Therefore, in these little 
boxes, let youthful Hens or Pullets be incarcerated, one in each : 
let food be ofi'ered every hour, drink being interdicted for the 
time. But let the food be wheat, moderately boiled. The 
little boxes ought to be pervious below, that the excrements 
may pass through, and be diligently removed every day. But 
the Hens ought not to be shut up beyond two weeks; lest 
they should die from too much fatness. I am told, also, that 
among some people they get gloriously fat, and quickly, if 
beer is offered them for drink, instead of water; also, that, if 
they are fed on brewer's grains, they lay more, as well as 
larger Eggs.' '' — Aldrovandi. 



* May not "lacerta" in the original text be a misprint or slip of 
the pen for "lacerato?" If so, "fat lizard" should be replaced by 
torn or "shred fat." 



76 THE REARING AND 

A correspondent of the Agricultural Gazette, thus describes 
the method which he successfully practised for many years in 
India: — "The fowl-house, or rather feeding-house, for only 
fattening Fowls were permitted to be in it, was kept as cool 
as possible, (in Bengal, remember,) and almost dark. Each 
Fowl had a separate pen; they were fed once, and only once 
a-day, with rice, boiled as rice ought to be for Christians : not 
to a mash; but so that grain from grain should separate. 
The quantity to each Fowl was about two ounces (before 
boiling). For the first three days to each was given about a 
tea-spoonful of ^ghoor,' a coarse sugai' — about half as much 
again of treacle would be an equivalent. This commencing 
with sugar was held to be very important; it cleansed the 
birds and disposed them to fatten; no water was given; 
neither was any chalk or gravel, both being unknown in the 
country. In about three weeks the Fowls were generally fat. 
I never, in England, have seen finer than those I have killed 
within that time, not even at Mr. Davis's of Leadenhall Market. 
If they did not fatten in three weeks, we supposed that they 
did not mean to fatten, but this was a rare occurrence, and 
proceeded, no doubt, from some ailment beyond my power of 
discovering; but, fat or otherwise, they were never tough. 
To boil the rice in buttermilk is by far preferable to boiling 
it in water; let the Fowls be as young as you can, if of full 
growth. Many people run away with an impression that 
Fowls fed on rice will go blind ; it is dirt and sourness that 
cause it. How often do we see a trough loaded with meal 
food, sufficient for two or three days, placed before the un- 
happy prisoner in the pen, who cannot escape from it, or seek 
other and sweeter food ! When the Fowls have done feeding, 
the trough should be removed, cleaned, and exposed to the 
air until the next day's feeding time. At my factory, in 
India, the troughs were every afternoon thrown into a pond; 
there they remained until next morning, when, after an hour 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 77 

or two's sunning, they were returned to the coops : no blind- 
ness was known there." 

We may observe that a temperature which feels cool in 
Bengal, would be thought warm here; and that, in this 
country of rapid digestion, a single meal a day is insufficient 
to fatten Fowls. It is a great point to keep them without 
food the first twenty-four hours they are shut up, allowing 
them to have drink only. If food be offered to them as sooa 
as they are deprived of liberty, they will sulk and refuse it, 
and, perhaps, be several days before they feed heartily; but, 
if they be starved till they feel a craving appetite, hunger will 
overcome their suUenness, and they will afterwards greedily 
devour their allowance. 

The oldest and toughest Fowls may be made into a savoury 
and nutritious dish by the following method, which is given 
as a tried and warranted recipe, because such birds are so often 
pronounced uneatable, thrown away, and wasted. 

When the Fowl is plucked and drawn, joint it as for a pie. 
Do not skin it. Stew it five hours in a close sauce-pan, with 
salt, mace, onions, or any other flavouring ingredients that 
may be approved : a clove of garlic may be added where it is 
not utterly disliked. When tender, turn it out into a deep 
dish so that the meat may be entirely covered with the liquor. 
Let it stand thus in its own jelly for a day or two (this is the 
grand secret); it may then be served in the shape of a curry, 
a hash, or a pie, and will be found little inferior to pheasant 
under similar circumstances. 

The cookery of the middle ages abounded in practical jokes. 
Here is a very witty one with a Chicken, ^^f you wish a 
Chicken to jump in the dish, take," says Albertus Magnus, 
''quicksilver, and powder of calaminth, and pour them into a 
glass bottle, seal it, and put it inside the hot Chicken : for as 
the quicksilver gets warm, it moves itself, and will make the 
chicken jump." The brilliancy of this trick is only to be 



78 THE REARING AND 

rivalled by the epigrammatic point of the question, ^' Did you 
ever see a hun dance on a table ?'' 

A specimen or two may be given of the savoury messes in 
which our great graud-tathers delighted. 

" The other delicious Broths, which none but the Rich can 
afford, are, the Bisk'*' of Pigeons; the Pottage of health; 
Partridge Broth with Coleworts, &c. &c., and the Pottage of 
Folds toith green Pease. We put the Fowls to boil with 
Broth, and skim them well; then pass the green Pease through 
a'^rying-pan, with Butter, or melted Bacon; and afterwards 
have them stew'd apart, with Lettices; and when the Fowls 
are done, we mix the Broth and Pease together, and send it 
to the Table. 

^' Chickens are roasted either larded, or harded, i. e., covered 
before and behind, with a thin slice of Bacon, and wrapped 
in Vine-leaves, in their Season. 

"Folds are pickled with Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, andXemon- 
peel, and are left in their Pickle till they be wanted; when 
wanted, they are taken out, put to drain, and after they have 
been fried in Butter, they are put to stew for a few Minutes, 
in some of the Pickle, and then carried to Table. ^' — Dennis 
de Coetlogon. 

Fowls for cooking that are required to be sent to a distance, 
or to be kept any time before being served, are plucked, drawn, 
and dressed immediately that they are killed. The feathers 
strip off much more easily and cleanly while the bird is yet 
warm. On special occasions, such as Michaelmas, for Geese, 
and Christmas, for all sorts of Poultry, when large numbers 
have to be slaughtered and prepared in a short time, the pro- 
cess is expedited by scalding the bird in boiling water, when 
the feathers drop off almost all at once. But Fowls thus treated 
are generally thought inferior in flavour, and are certainly 

* Derived from biscuits, twice cooked. 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 79 

more likely to acquire a taint in close warm^ weather, than 
such as are plucked and trussed dry. The Norfolk poulterers, 
especially those in the neighbourhoods of Norwich and Great 
Yarmouth, may, in this art, challenge the whole world for 
skill and neatness. All bruises or rupturing of the skin should 
be avoided. A coarse half-worn cloth, that is pervious to the 
air, like a wire safe, and perfectly dry and clean, forms the 
best wrapper. The colour of yellow-skinned Turkeys, which, 
however, are equally well flavoured, is improved for appearance 
at market by wrapping them twelve or twenty-four hours In 
cloths soaked in cold salt and water, frequently changed. For 
the same purpose the loose fat is laid first in warm salt and 
water, afterwards in milk and water for two or three hours. 
The Essex mode is to dust with flour, both inside and out, 
any fowls that have to travel far, or hang many days in the 
larder. 

To those who desire to keep only a few Fowls for the sake 
of fresh eggs, etc. etc., and who are quite limited as to space, 
the following remarks of one of Mr. Dixon's correspondents, 
will prove interesting. He says — " There is one thing I 
think necessary to impress upon those who keep Fowls in a 
confined place, which is cleanliness. The droppings in their 
roosting place should be taken up every morning, and a hand- 
ful of dry ashes strewed under their perches. I have only a 
confined yard in which to keep my Fowls. The plan I adopt 
is to give them every day plenty of fresh cabbage leaves, and 
once or twice a week I have some onions chopped up for them, 
of which, after a time, they become very fond. I let them 
have a plentiful supply of burnt oyster shells. I put the 
shells into the fire until they are red hot, and well burnt. I 
then break them into small pieces with the fingers, but not 
into powder. I am satisfied that this is much better for them 
than crude lime ; they eat great quantities of it. Their other 
food consists of the best barley and oats, and to compensate 



80 THE REARING AND 

for the want of insects, I occasionally give them a little raw 
meat. By adopting this plan I keep them in decent health. 
The only thing they appear to want is more exercise, which, I 
think, is the reason I cannot rear chickens well, for with all 
my attention I find they are stunted in their growth, no doubt 
from the want of a sufl&cient run.^' I can only say that a 
Cockerel which this gentleman did me the favour to send me, 
showed no symptoms of stunted growth. He was a magnificent 
black Spanish fellow, with all the distinctive marks of the breed 
highly developed. He has since vanished, and is now doubt- 
less the pride of the thief or the receiver, in some sequestered 
dingy back lane. What a contrast such a situation for Fowls 
is, to that described by another correspondent. ^' I wish you 
could see my poultry-yard, which is in fact no yard, being part 
of our park, where I always have the young broods, and as 
some of it is now a hay-field, it is a nice place for them to run 
about mr—H. H. 

It has been suggested that none of the writers on Poultry 
have dwelt sufficiently upon the profit and convenience of those 
who keep a few Fowls for the sake of their eggs, having ever- 
lasting layers, with perhaps one or two sitting Hens to enable 
them to keep up their stock. If the sitting Hens were such 
as lay hrown eggs, and the others white ones, it would save 
trouble. This arrangement could easily be carried out by se- 
lecting one or two Grame or Cochin China Hens that lay dark 
eggs, and are all excellent incubators, and having the laying 
Hens Black Spanish^ or Silver Hamburg, or the Andalusian 
variety, imported by Mr. Barber. 

Another plan, quite feasible, is to keep no Hens whatever 
except those which lay everlastingly, and to make hen Turkeys 
perform the duty of incubating for all parties. 

The following hint may be useful to those who are not pro- 
vided with a stud of everlasting layers : — " Amongst all the 
remedies I have seen recommended for diseases in Poultry, I 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 81^ 

have never seen Jalap mentioned, and / have «ver found it 
most efficacious ; indeed, for many years I have never used 
any other : as it appears to me to be the natural medicine 
for Fowls. It is astonishing how soon it sets them up. In 
the country, where they have a good run, they may not require 
so much physic ; but even there I should imagine it would be 
occasionally useful : as, for instance, when they have had the 
incubating fever on them late in the season, and I have not 
wanted them to sit, one or two doses have relieved them from 
it entirely. In short, with me, it is a regular ' Morrison's 
Piir for Fowls ; as it seems to cure all their complaints. The 
dose for a full-sized Fowl is 15 or 16 grains. I moisten a 
small piece of crumb of bread about the size of a hazel nut, 
and mix the powdered jalap with it." 

An inquiry has been made whether common salt would not 
be a good thing to promote laying in Hens that were necessarily 
kept in close confinement. But among the most experienced 
practical rearers of Poultry there is an old, and I believe well- 
founded prejudice against their eating salted food, even in 
very small quantities. I have seen in some books G-lauber's 
salts recommended, but should be sorry to try them, except as 
an experiment on a lot of worthless or diseased Fowls. G-alli- 
naceous birds reared by the sea-side or on the banks of a salt- 
water river, avoid the saline stream, and search for food and 
drink as far inland as they can range. I know not either how 
common salt could be administered to them. It is more than 
doubtful whether the Hens would pick it from the ground in 
its crystalline form, and it would be difficult to distribute it in 
equal doses by means of bread, &c., soaked in" salt water : the 
chances are that some of the Hens would be poisoned. Pi- 
geons, I think, are the only domesticated birds to whose health 
salt is beneficial, and they prefer it in combination with ani- 
malised matters : the more offensive it is to our senses, the 
more agreeable it appears to be to theirs. 



82 THEREARINGAND 

" I was told the other day of a gentleman at Highgate, who, 
knowing that salt was beneficial to Pigeons, gave some to his 
Hens, in consequence of which they all died. I have found a 
little hemp-seed efficacious for making them lay, and a little 
good ale) I give them all that is left at table) will have that 
effect — not bread soaked in ale ; for it is a golden rule to know 
that all moist food is injurious to Fowls, unless they are in- 
tended shortly for the table. All cooked vegetables, except 
potatoes, I have found bad for them.'^ — L. B. 

An abundant supply of lime in some form should not be 
omitted ; either chopped bones, old mortar, or a lump of chalky 
marl. The shell of every egg used in the house should, be 
roughly crushed and thrown down to the Hens, which will 
greedily eat them. A green living turf, like those given to 
larks, only larger, will be of service, both for its grass, and 
the insects it may contain. A dusting-place, wherein to get 
rid of vermin is indispensable. A daily hot meal of potatoes, 
boiled as carefully as for the family table, then chopped and 
sprinkled or mixed with pollard, will be comfortable and stim- 
ulating. The French plan, namely bread soaked in hot vin 
ordinaire, beer, or cider, appears from experience to be better 
suited to fattening than to laying Fowls. After every meal of 
the household, the bones and all other scraps should be col- 
lected and thrown out. Hens are great pickers of bones ; I 
have seen a Hen devouring the flesh and cleaning the skeleton 
of her dead husband, doubtless on the native Australian prin- 
ciple of respect and affection for the deceased. 

It is a singular fact, that pullets hatched very late in Autumn, 
and therefore of stunted growth, will lay nearly as early as 
those hatched in spring. The checking of their growth seems 
to have a tendency to produce eggs; of course very tiny ones 
at first. 

Fowls that are kept in close confinement will greatly miss 
the opportunity of basking in the sun : warmth is almost as 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. »^ 

necessary for thriftiness as food. Even in Italj, it was recom- 
mended by Columella that "Fowl-houses ought to be placed 
in that part of the farm which faces the rising sun in winter : 
let them be joined to the oven or the kitchen, so that the smoke 
may reach the birds, it being particularly healthy for them." 
Modern amateurs have thought it would be a good plan to 
have an Arnott or Dean stove erected in their fowl-house, 
which could be lighted an hour before the Cocks and Hens 
went to roost. Sharp weather is always a sufficient excuse 
for the unproductiveness of Hens; but it may be suggested 
that there are cases in which Fowls do lay, without their 
owners being much the better for the eggs. This, however, 
is less likely to happen in an aviary, if I may be allowed so 
to term it, than in the farm, or the unenclosed poultry-yard. 
It is an unfortunate fact, that in the country, where Fowls are 
allowed unlimited range, choice specimens are remarkably apt 
to disappear; and if they do not, their eggs do. The proprietor 
is sure of just as many of the select kinds as he can himself 
lay hands upon. He may often have the satisfaction of buy- 
ing in a neighbouring village a fine brood of chickens, hatched 
from eggs purloined from himself, and be thus considerately 
saved all trouble of rearing them. These agreeable tricks are 
played by a set of rascally half-poaching pilferers, who are 
connected with the lowest class of dealers. If any fear of 
detection arises, the "fancy'^ birds are immediately forwarded 
to the metropolis, or some other large town at a distance. 

The curiosities and absurdities of the literature of poultry- 
breeding are inexhaustible. One " Ornithologus" states, on 
the report of his people, that, in order to obtain all female 
chicks from a setting of eggs, it is only necessary to set the 
Hen while the moon is in the full, and to prefer such eggs 
for the purpose as have been laid when the moon was at the 
full, and also to contrive that they be hatched at the full 
moon; but Aldrovandi, who quotes him, remarks, that it 



84 THE REARING AND 

would be difl&cult to combine all these conditions, seeing that 
chickens are hatched in three weeks, and that there are four 
weeks from one full moon to another. 

The same Ornithologus testifies to having read in a certain 
German manuscript, that if eggs are stained with any colour, 
chickens of the same hue will be produced. Others direct 
that the aviaries in which they are bred should be covered, in 
every part, with white hangings; with what view is not appa- 
rent. But whoever wishes to have most beautiful chickens, 
^'visu jucundissimos," must pair his Hen with a Cock Wood 
Pigeon, or Partridge, or Pheasant. Directions, too, are given 
from Aristotle, for obtaining chickens with four wings and 
four feet. 

It is not our intention to enter minutely into the physicking 
and doctoring of Fowls. One or two authentic cases will be 
more instructive than a score of prescriptions. The epidemic 
diseases to which they are subject are more easily warded off 
by prophylactic than remedial measures. In bad cases, either 
of roup or gapes, it is, nine times out of ten, more humane, as 
well as cheaper, to knock the poor little sufferer on the head 
at once, than to let it linger on to almost certain death. It 
is natural to try to do all we can, either for an old favourite, 
or for a valuable specimen; but even when we succeed in 
restoring the patient, it is usually only a temporary recovery; 
and it cannot be wise to keep such valetudinarians to become 
the parents of future broods. 

^'When I came home the other day from the country, I 
found one of my favourite Hens, which had lost nearly all its 
feathers, (being in full moult,) in a sad way. It appeared as 
if it had got a wry neck, and was tipsy, as it kept falling down, 
and neither the Cock nor any of the other Hens would go near 
it. I examined it, and found there was nothing in its crop, 
and it was very thin. I immediately gave it one grain of 
calomel in a small bread-pill, and three or four houi-s after- 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 85 

wards I gave it fifteen grains of jalap, and, as it was evidently 
better the next day, I repeated the jalap pill for four successive 
nights, and it now appears quite well and feeds heartily. 
After the first dose of jalap its droppings were green and 
highly ofiensive. I mention all this, as I have never seen a 
Fowl similarly affected/' — L. B. 

The roup is an affection of the head, from which birds that 
are really attacked seldom recover, and when recovered, are 
still more rarely strong afterwards. It is the ^^pituita" of the 
Koman writers, which they characterize as "infestissima," 
most hostile to Poultry. A copious and ofi'ensive discharge 
flows from the nostrils, in bad cases from the eyes also; indeed, 
the whole head occasionally seems to suppurate. The creature 
is stupified by suffering, and blinded also by the disorder. 
All that can be done is to keep it in a warm dry place, to wash 
the head frequently with warm vinegar and water, to cram the 
bird with nourishing food when it cannot see to eat, and to 
protect it from the cruelties of other Fowls. A solution of 
sulphate of zinc, as an eye- water, is a valuable cleansing appli- 
cation. Rue pills, and decoction of rue, as a tonic, have been 
administered with apparent benefit. Cleanliness, warmth, 
dryness, and good feeding, will, in a measure, keep ofii" the 
evil, but we cannot expect entirely to eradicate it from a race 
of creatures so far removed from their native country as our 
Cocks and Hens are. Fowls are seldom affected by the roup 
before they are at least three quarters grown. 

We now produce one or two surgical cases. 

'^Perhaps it may not be generally known that Fowls are 
injured by eating hops. I mean the hops that have been used 
in brewing and thrown aside. I had a Cock of a valuable 
breed that appeared ill one morning, moping, and scarcely 
eating any food at all. We tried all the usual remedies with- 
out effect, when it occurred to me that the crop was more dis- 
tended than ordinary, I therefore made an incision, and took 



86 THE REARING AND 

out a vast quantity of these hops, evidently the cause of the 
disorder. The bird now grew better, and had the crop been 
relieved earlier, I think would have done well, but it was now 
too much weakened, and died within a week after/' — H. H. 

Another patient was treated with better success. 

" The case of the Silver Hamburgh Hen, which was poisoned 
and recovered again, stands thus. She was a very errant 
Hen, and the only one that I could not keep in the proper 
fowl-yard. Now I had for some time been feeding the Fowls 
on soft food, and one Saturday afternoon I saw the Hen in 
question reeling about as if she were drunk; presently she 
put out her legs quite stiff and fell down with scarcely any 
symptoms of life remaining. I took her up and felt her crop, 
when I found she had been eating hard food. It then occurred 
to me that she must have been poisoned by corn laid by my 
neighbour to destroy the sparrows; which afterwards proved 
true. Having a great partiality to that breed of Fowl, and 
moreover the Hen being a gift from you, I felt great reluctance 
to lose her; and finding there was no chance of saving her but 
by rough means, I resolved to open her crop, which I did by 
making an incision of about three-fourths of an inch, or an 
inch long, with my penknife, and emptied her crop of as much 
as it could possibly hold of wheat poisoned with nux vomica. 
I then poured tepid water into her mouth, and rinced her out 
well that way, letting it run out of her crop : after which I 
carefully sewed her crop up, and gave her three antibilious 
pills, not having any jalap in the house. It may be remarked 
by the way, that a Hen can apparently take as much jalap or 
pills, without inconvenience, as a man. Between hope and 
despair, I put her at night into a warm place, and left her 
bread and milk for her supper. Next morning, when I went 
to see her, I found her as lively as possible : she made her 
escape from me at once, and was immediately joined by her 
husband. She had laid an egg during the night, and always 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 87 

afterwards was as good a layer as any other Hen. But 
although I could not myself find any fault with my execution 
of the above surgical operation, the Hens her companions did, 
and were so anxious to unlace her boddice, and otherwise ill- 
treat her, that I was obliged to keep her away from them. 
Some weeks after the operation, the cotton with which I sewed 
her up came away from her; but before that time she lived 
with the rest, and never, except on the day she took the poison, 
showed any symptoms of illness. She is at present alive and 
well, and yclept Susannah." — G. P. S. 

The gapes is an inflammation of the respiratory organs, 
causing Chickens to gasp for breath, and generally proving 
fatal. Various forms and degrees of inflammation of the lungs, 
accompanied by fever, are the great scourge of the young of 
gallinaceous birds. Some attribute the fever to their bemg 
overpowered by too much heat, but I cannot believe such to 
be the cause of the symptoms. " Some of my Chickens, about 
ten days old, have died lately of a sort of low fever, growing 
thinner and thinner in spite of the best attendance and most 
nourishing food. 1 cannot find out the cause, except their 
being too much exposed to the meridian sun, and have obviated 
it accordingly.''-- B^. H. But a wetting in a sudden shower, 
a run through long grass before the dew is off, an insufficient 
or irregular supply of food and drink for a single day, are any 
of them sufficient to produce a similar disappointing result. 
With Chickens at a more advanced age, one very likely cause 
is the Hen being permitted to go to roost, leaving them to 
take care of themselves during weather that is too cold for 
them to do without the warmth of their mother, instead of her 
being confined with them all night in the coop. Or, when the 
coop has been left abroad in a garden or on a lawn, I have 
known the family to be attacked by a rat or weasel; the Hen 
has given the enemy a warm reception, and the little ones 
have escaped for the time by squatting in strawberry beds, and 



88 THE REARING AND 

behind box edgings, but they have all subsequently died from 
their night's exposure. If these points of mismanagement are 
carefully avoided, the malady will rarely make its appearance. 
Some cruel French experiments are on record, in which Chickens 
were purposely brought to an incurable state of inflammation, 
by subjecting them to these baneful influences. 

In some cases the presence of parasitic worms in the air- 
passages is a further aggravation of the inflammatory symptoms. 
In the elaborate article on Bronchitis in the "Penny Cyclo- 
paedia/' a figure is given of one of these annoying creatures. 
It is stated that in quadrupeds the bronchial tubes, and the 
windpipe, and often the larynx and the fauces, are filled with 
small worms, forming a kind of coat mixed with the mucus, 
or connected together in knots of various sizes. The disease 
is said to be either produced, or much aggravated, by the 
presence of these worms and the irritation which they pro- 
duce. No notice, however, is taken of the worms which some- 
times infest Fowls similarly affected. 

Having never detected any such worms in Chickens that 
had died of the gapes, and believing that all the apparent 
symptoms were to be accounted for by inflammation caused 
by cold and wet, I began to doubt the existence of the para- 
sites, and stated as much to a gentleman, who replied, "I wish 
to make you a little less sceptical about the fasciolse. I used 
to think as you do, that it was merely inflammation, but a 
little dissection of the trachea soon showed me the worms ad- 
hering to the inner membrane of the windpipe. I have actually 
found as many as seven or eight in a single individual. If you 
wish to be convinced, cut off the neck of the next Chick that 
dies, the larger the better for investigation, and open the trachea 
gently with yom- penknife, and your doubts will be set at rest 
for ever. You are certainly right so far, that no Chick can 
be cured that is either very young, or very far gone in the 
disorder. But if not too young, and taken in time, the fasciol^ 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 89 

can easily be either brought up by the insertion of a wire or 
feather, or so loosened that the bird can cough them up. The 
inhalation of tobacco smoke, and other useless and uncertain 
modes, are ten times more distressing to the Chicken, and do 
not produce the desired effect. 

''"Those writers, too, are totally wrong who recommend the 
attempt to destroy fasciolae by thrusting down a straw and oil 
into the windpipe. Pray do not try the method, as I have 
suffered enough by it ; the straw being a bad thing in itself, 
and the oil, the smallest quantity of which stops respiration, 
and is therefore used by entomologists to kill insects, still worse. 
Several Chicks have died under my hands by it. But the 
proper and only successful way is, adroitly to put a small 
wire, or feather without any web, except at the farther end, 
down the windpipe. Give the wire a few turns, and the fas- 
ciolaB will come up at the end, or the bird will cough them 
up. This will, of course, only do for Chicks not less than a 
fortnight or three weeks old; younger ones will not stand it, 
and must be left to their fate, unless turpentine will save them. 
Smoking them in a watering-pot, after Montague's plan, is a 
doubtful remedy, and much more punishment to the birds. 

" This season (1848) the fasciolae have troubled me a little, 
and I have extracted some, but my hand is not in for it this 
year. The disease seems more a slight annoyance and hin- 
drance to their growth, than the fatal sweeping pest it is some- 
times. I thought I would try turpentine, and find it, as I ex- 
pected, perfectly useless. As, however, the fasciolas are some- 
times too small to be brought up, turpentine might be of ad- 
vantage to dip the end of the wire or feather before putting it 
down the trachea. 

" I do not think fasciolae are ever engendered by wet ; but 
Chickens that have the disorder, in itself a weakening one, 
become very much affected by a degree of damp that would 
not otherwise have injured them. Fasciolas have raged with 



90 THEREARINGAND 

me in tlie driest and hottest summers. You will observe, in 
those I sent, that each worm is furnished with a large round 
head and mouth, like the head of a pin, by which to attach 
itself to the inner membrane of the trachea. A larger speci- 
men than the one I sent (it is about an inch long) has not 
3"et occurred to me ; but I know not how large they may grow. 
My waj- of late j^ears has been to confine the Hens very much 
in large coops, and move them to entirely fresh places every 
other day, when the Chicks forage for insects. There is one 
thing with regard to the number of Chickens asserted to be 
reared by the Chiswick hydro-incubator, which I cannot un- 
derstand, viz., how so many j'oung birds can be reared together 
without producing disease, and especially the tasciolfe or gapes. 
In my own experience (and in some seasons we have killed 
one hundred and seventy for the table in the course of the 
year) I am generally obliged to move the broods from yards 
and houses to open fields, and if a place is selected where no 
Chicks have ever been reared, so much the better. How Can- 
telo manages I know not : perhaps his establishment has not 
yet been many years in the same place. On a fiirm newly 
built, and ground reclaimed, I would undertake to breed any 
number, as this overcrowding (which Mowbray called the 
' taint') is the origin of nearly every disorder." — ff. IT. These 
are useful and practical remarks ; but it will be only doing 
justice to the merits of tm*pentine, which is a powerful vermi- 
fuge, to give the report of another case. 

"I have not been unsuccessful — or rather, I should say, a 
deaf and dumb brother of mine — in raising Fowls this year 
(1S47). My first two trips of Chicks had the ' gapes' very 
badly. I gave them a little spirit of turpentine in rice, and 
afterwards put a little salt in the water given to them, and saved 
sixteen out of twenty. To all the Chicks since hatched, I gjwe 
salt in their water, and I have about eighty without any sick- 
ness. The reason of success from this treatment is very clear. 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 91 

The 'gapes' are merely bronchitis. The worms are formed 
in the stomach (?), and, if you put an ounce of unslaked lime 
into eight ounces of water, and draw it off, adding to this some 
salt, and put about a table-spoonful in the water the Chicks 
drink, the insect is destroyed in the itf/marJi with certainty ; 
salt alone, regularly given, will have this effect. When the 
insect gets from the stomach into the windpipe, there is a 
difficulty. But spirits of turpentine are absorbed into the lungs, 
and the breath discharges part of the spirits through the wind- 
pipe, and thus also destroys the worm. The common works 
on the treatment of Chicks when ill of the ^ gapes' are full of 
irrational matter and perfect nonsense.'' — T. F. 

It may be observed that, if the worms do get from the sto- 
mach into the windpipe, it must be by travelling up the gullet, 
entering the mouth, and then passing down the windpipe ; 
that though salt does destroy intestinal worms, it must be ad- 
ministered cautiously to Chickens, lest we poison the patient, 
as well as the parasites ; and that the mere vapour of turpen- 
tine will have little effect upon worms that are deeply imbedded 
in mucus. 

We have now to notice another disgusting affliction to which 
Fowls are liable, and which it would be more agreeable to pass 
bj' altogether. 

'' Some time ago I had a beautiful brood of Black Spanish 
Chickens, and the day after they were hatched I happened to 
take one in my hand, and was much struck by observing on 
the top of its poll five or six large full-grown lice, evidently 
caught from the mother. I then examined the whole brood, 
and found them all similarly affected. Knowing that they 
would not thrive until I had dislodged or destroyed the enemy, 
the next day I attempted to pick them out ; but I found that, 
having only been left one night, the whole poll was covered 
with nits, and I could not get rid of them from their hanging 
so tenaciously to the down. I procured some white precipitate 



92 THE REARING AND 

powder^ and, witH a small camel-hair pencil, powdered them 
over. On examining them the next day, I found the parasites 
had all disappeared, nor could I detect one in their after growth. 
They grew and thrived so remarkably afterwards, that T was 
convinced this was a valuable discovery, and have ever since 
treated all my broods the same, and have never lost one from 
sickness. All Hens are affected with these parasites, and as 
they do not dust themselves so frequently during the time of 
incubation, they are more liable to them. I have ascertained 
from observation, that as soon as the Chickens are hatched, 
these pests leave the parent for the young, and if they are not 
destroyed, they weaken the Chicken so much, that, if any com- 
plaint comes on, the poor little thing has not strength to con- 
tend with it. The best time to apply the precipitate is when 
they are two or three days old, and at night after they are 
gone to roost; but the Hens must not be touched with it; 
as, in pluming her feathers she draws them through her beak, 
and the precipitate being a strong poison, would no doubt 
prove fatal to her. In fact, there is no occasion for it ; as I 
could never detect them in her ; they had no doubt left her 
for the young. A very small quantity should be used ; as one 
pennyworth, purchased at a chemist's, is sufficient for several 
broods."— i:. B. 

A slight application of spirit of turpentine and water answers 
the same purpose, and may be preferred by many persons who 
have a natural dislike to the use of poison. For, where poi- 
sons are admitted at all, there is no guessing what may be the 
end of them, and the relief of one creature from parasites by 
these means, may cause the death of another. For instance, 
after a sheep-dipping, a gentleman lost a lot of valuable Ame- 
rican Turkeys ; they had devoured the poisoned maggots, ticks, 
&c., that dropped from the sheep, and were themselves poisoned 
by them. This is a warning 72ever to allow sheep-dippings to take 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 9^ 

jplace within the range of ijoultry, all of which, except Greese, 
would be liable to the same fate. 

There are some startling facts on the subject of parasitic 
insects, to be found in the " Monographia Anoplurorum Bri- 
tanniae/' by Mr. Henry Denny, Curator to the Leeds Philoso- 
phical Society, a work which, although with a dog-latin title, 
that has doubtless limited its circulation, is written in such 
plain and truthful English, as to make the flesh creep on one's 
bones. It is not easy to enjoy uninterrupted slumber the night 
after reading Mr. Denny's Monograph. 

" The author has had to contend with repeated rebukes from 
his friends for entering upon the illustration of a tribe of in- 
sects whose very name was sufficient to create feelings of dis- 
gust. ^ Why not take up some more interesting or popular de- 
partment of Entomology ? ' has been the frequent remark made 
to him. He considered, however, that if he wished to render 
any service to science, he must not consult popular taste or 
ephemeral fashion, but must take a page from that part of the 
great Book of Nature less generally read, and consequently 
less understood and appreciated, by the world at large.'' 

The number and variety of species given is frightful ; some 
of those which infest Poultry are : — 

" Goniocotes holog aster (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). 

^' Goniocles falcicornis (Louse of the Peacock). — This beauti- 
ful (!) parasite is common upon the Peacock, and may be 
found — after the death of the bird — congregated in numbers 
about the base of the beak and crown of the head. During 
the year 1827, three or four specimens of Pavo cristatus hav- 
ing passed through my hands, upon each of which I observed, 
for the first time, several examples of the large and well-marked 
parasite of this bird, the Goniodes falcicornis, I was induced to 
examine whatever other species of birds, &c., might come in 
my way, to ascertain whether great diversity in size or ap- 
pearance existed between the parasites of difierent species or 



94 THE REARING AND 

genera. This I soon found to bo so considerable, that I re- 
solved upon forming a collection, and ascert;iiniug what was 
written upon the parasitic tribes. 

" (7oniod<:s sfj/Ii/cr (Louse of the Turkey). — Common upon 
the Turkey, frequenting the head, neck, and breast : a very 
beautiful species. The males of this and all the other species 
of Gout odes use the lii-st and third joints of the antennae witJi 
great facility, acting the part of a finger and thumb. 

" GonioJesdissimilis (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). — I sus- 
pect this species is of rare occurrence. 

^^ Lipeuriis vanabih's (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). — Com- 
mon on the Domestic Fowl, preferring the primary and se- 
condary feathers of the wings, among the webs of which they 
move with great celerity. 

" Lij)curus 2^oI^fraj.^€zius (Louse of the Turkey). — A com- 
mon parasite upon the Tui-key. Their mode of progression ia 
rather singular, as well as rapid. They slide, as it were side- 
ways, extremely quick from one side of the fibre of a feather to 
the other, and move equally well in a forward or retrogade di- 
rection, which, together with their flat polished bodies, renders 
them extremely diflicult to catch or hold. I have observed 
that where two or more genera infest one bird, they have each 
their favourite localities ; for while the Gon lodcs sf^Ii/er will 
be found on the breast and neck of the bird, the Lijycunis 
poli/frajpezius will be congregated in numbers on the webs and 
shafts of the primary wing feathers. 

^' Me7ioj)on j.HjUidum (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). — Found 
in great abundance in Poultry, running over the hands of those 
who are plucking Fowls, and diflicult to brush oft', from the 
smoothness of their bodies." Those who are desirous of fuller 
information should consult the work itself. 

It may be suggested that the discovery by the microscope of 
fossil parasites, might determine the species of doubtful ex- 
tinct birds and animals, by the same sort of reasoning as the 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 95 

order of fossiliferous strata is decided hy the organic remains 
found in them. 

But what a contrast is here displayed ! The glittering 
argus-eycd plumage of the Peacock, undermined by lice I 
Ach I Degrading! We are but smoking flax. The Pope, 
at his coronation, is reminded, by the outward visible sign of 
extinguished flame, and by words, *^Sancte Pater, sic transit 
gloria mundi" — "Holy Father, thus passes away the glory of 
earthly things.'' The Prelate, encased with gold and gems, 
but wearing beneath his outward show sackcloth, and perhaps 
vermin, voluntarily, and the Peacock, with his unrivalled 
plumes, irritated by these odious defilers, involuntarily, that 
in life move among the webs hastily, and after death "attract 
notice'' about the seat of beauty and honour, the head and 
crest — are the same in kind — apparent magnificence balanced 
by unseen evil. Like unto them, also, are the great and power- 
ful of this world, devoured by heart-eating cares and irre- 
mediable disappointments. What a natural and almost true 
superstition was that of the old Greek Nemesis ! The returned 
ring of Polycrates is the fate of few mortals; nor to be wished 
for. The boast, "Soul, thou hast much goods, take thine 
ease," is apt to be followed by heavy retribution. 

"See how glorious, how splendid, how secure we are! 
What can touch us, or ruffle our luxurious calm ? Why need 
we humble ourselves, and go softly, and think of our less 
happy brethren now and then ? Nemesis is an exploded 
phantom, self-denial a superstitious folly." Yes: "all men, 
think all men mortal — but themselves." They who have 
felt no loss, no sorrow, have need to be greatly fearful ! The 
black threads which the Sisters weave into our web of life, are 
healthful as warnings, merciful as threatenings, needful as 
preservatives. A world was not saved without a sufficient 
sacrifice. How shall frail and paltry individuals swim on in 
everlasting sunshine ? The check in careering prosperity, the 



90 THE REARING AND 

lice in the enameled panoply, remind us wliat we are in the 
sight of The Ever-present. 

*' And upon a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat 
upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the 
people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not 
of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote 
him, because he gave not God the glory : and he was eaten 
up of worms, and gave up the ghost." 

Let us be thankful for sorrows, humble and loving in good 
fortune ; for it is of no use to sit in the sun, reflecting his 
splendour by our trappings, and to be, like Herod, stricken 
of worms at last. 

The following letter, received by the Editor, from an 
esteemed correspondent, will, I am sure, be read with great 
interest by the Poultry breeder and fancier. If its suggestions 
be carried out to the letter, they will never have occasion to 
complain of vermin. The sulphur of which he speaks has a 
very decided tendency to the skin, and destroys the vermin on 
poultry, as it is the parasite constituting the disease vulgarly 
known as " the itch." 

Northumberland, Oct. 15, 1850. - 
My dear Sir, — I have several tolerably good reasons for 
not replying to you sooner — absence, business, felon on the 
finger, &c. 

You wish me to give my views on ^^ Henology," and par- 
ticularly in relation to poultry-houses. On this latter subject 
I do not feel prepared, either by practice or in theory, to give 
satisfactory or reliable information. 

In the country and in villages, where space is little worth, 
and there is not much necessity for restriction. Fowls are gene- 
rally allowed the "largest amount of liberty.'' And this, 
with reasonable limitations, in connection with plentiful and 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 97 

various food, is indispensable to perfect health, rapid growth, 
and a profitable yield of eggs. It is not possible to compensate 
a laying Hen for the want of liberty. Coop her up — give her- 
grain, meat, vegetables, fruit, water, gravel, lime, every thing 
that may be thought conducive to health and comfort, and 
though her yield of eggs will greatly exceed that of a hen confined 
and kept in an ordinary way, it will by no means compare 
with that of a Hen in a state of liberty, equally well kept, 
one that breathes the wholesome, free, circulating air, and 
picks grass, gravel, worms, and insects, to suit herself. The 
want of range has almost as much efi'ect on the comparative 
barrenness of a Hep in winter j as the cold. Liberty and varied 
abundance are the two greatest essentials for poultry, old and 
young, to promote health, growth, beauty, and fertility. 

Lice have very justly been considered the greatest draw- 
back to the success and pleasure of the poultry-fancier, and 
nothing short of unremitting vigilance will exterminate them, 
and keep them exterminated. To attain this, whitewash 
frequently all the parts adjacent to the roosting poles, take 
down these, and run them slowly through a fire made of wood 
shavings, dry weeds, or the light waste combustibles, until 
every adhering louse and lousette is demolished. Flowers of 
sulphur (which costs five or six cents a pound) given to Fowls 
with Indian meal, is highly recommended; about one ounce 
to a chicken, to be given in as short a time as they can be 
induced to eat it. This to be repeated, at discretion. I have 
tried these combined remedies, apparently with good result. 
What share the sulphur had in it, I cannot positively say. 
It certainly never injured the chickens, and very probably 
improved their general health. In warm and moderate 
weather, the best place for poultry to roost is in the open air, 
where sunshine, and rain, and wind tfl|d equally to the de- 
struction of parasites. 

Hens should be made to lay in portable boxes, that may be 



98 THE REARING AND 

carriod out occasionally, and the hay or straw composuig the 
nest hunif in the Ihu\ In this way, thousands of vorniin 
may he dostroyod. This is particularly beneficial, a day or 
two before a lien brings out her brood. Remove the eggs 
with great care into a box freshly burnt out, and put it in the 
place of the old one. Then immediately burn out the one 
removed. As soon as the chickens are hatched, put them into 
a well lined basket, and if the weather be cool, place them 
near the lire. When all are out of the shell, give the Hen a 
thorough greasing under the wings and thighs, on the breast, 
and, most particularly, in the hollow between the rump and 
vent. In this last spot, lice are sometimes found in a crawling 
mass six or eight deep. Then the chicks may be Si\fely re- 
turned to the mother, and if compelled to roost in a /tnJt 
clean place, they will keep clear of lice for weeks, and grow 
twice as fast as lousy ones. 

If perchance, through neglect or accident, they become 
verminous, grease them on the parts named above, and on the 
head and neck. This is the onl}' effectual, certiiin mode. By 
continued, systematic warfare, the "nasty critters" may be 
kept down. If they are not kept down, the chickens will be. 
I have known young Fowls so afflicted, three months old, no 
larger than clean healthy Chicks of six weeks, running about 
with their heads and necks as featherless and more naked 
than the day they were hatched. 

Before leaving this lousy subject, let me amuse you with 
an incident of experimental philosophy. Last year, I thought 
I had discovered the gnmd secret of effectual louse-murder. 
I had six large Hens, sitting on about ninety choice eggs, 
game, Creole, and booby. My early chickens had been much 
injured by vermin, and I resolved to give these summer Chicks 
a better chance. I leased every brooding Hen from head to 
tail, and patiently waited the result. "When the twenty days 
of each expectant incubatrix had expired, I looked under her 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLH. 99 

in vain for the Bundcred BhcllH. No chick, nor chirp, nor 
sign of life. In a couple of dayn 1 opened the eggs, and lo! 
each little embryo Cock and lien appeared "in Ktatu quo" it 
was when the grease was communicated from the Hen to the 
egg, exccjpt that it was <Ufuw-t; — the very hour the pores of the 
ehellH were dosed by the grease, the chickens "went dead." 

I mention this incident, inasmuch as Dr. liennett, in his 
Poultry Book, recommends eggs for hatching to be preserved 
in grease. Try it, and Til wager two Chittagong roosters 
against a Bantam, you don't <jf'X a chkken. 

You suggest six compartments as requisite to a perfect coop; 
among the rest, one for laying, and one for sitting. This is 
certainly desirable, if easily effected. But the trouble is, a 
hen will generally sit where she has laid, and nou^hf/rft dne. 
In some cases they can be moved, but not often with success. 

In connection with the subject of coops, I would mention, 
what perhaps everybody knows who pretends to know any 
thing about poultry : they should always be built fronting the 
south or south-east, and furnished on that side with several 
glazed windows, to give them, in winter, sun without cold. 

Yours, very truly, 

David Tagoart. 

There is no doubt in my mind, from considerable experience, 
that almost any kind of grease or unctuous matter is certain 
death to the vermin of our domestic poultry; and although, if 
used properly, it will remove all vermin, yet, in the case of very 
young chicks, it should only be used in a warm sunny day, 
and they should be put into a coop with the mother, and the 
coop darkened for an hour or two, and every thing made 
quiet, that they may get a good rest and nap after the fatigue 
occasioned by greasing them. They should be handled with 
great care, and greased thoroughly; the Hen also. After 
resting, they may be permitted to come out and bask in the 
sun, and in a few days will look sprightly enough. 



100 



CHAPTER HI. 

ON EGGS : THEIR COLOUR, FORM, AND SEX. 

" Do you see that the resemblance of one egg with another has passed into a pro- 
verb ? Yet, granting this to be true, I have heard that there were in Delos many 
people who used to keep a number of Hens for the sake of profit ; and when they in- 
spected their Eggs, were in the habit of pronouncing which Hen had laid that par- 
ticular one." — Cicero, II. Academicarum. 

The Deliaci, it is clear, knew something about '^ Eyes and 
no Eyes, or the Art of Seeing '/' for Eggs are popularly sup- 
posed to be so much alike, that what can be said about one 
Egg is thought applicable to every other laid by the same spe- 
cies of bird — the common Hen for example ; but there is nearly 
as much distinguishable difference between the units in every 
egg-basket which is carried to market, as there is between the 
faces in a crowd of men, or the hounds in a pack. To every 
Hen belongs an individual peculiarity in the form, colour, and 
size of the Egg she lays, which never changes during her whole 
lifetime, so long as she remains in health, and which is as well 
known to those who are in the habit of taking her produce, as 
the handwriting of their nearest acquaintance. Some Hens 
lay smooth, cream-coloured Eggs, others rough, chalky, granu- 
lated ones : there is the buff, the snow-white, the spherical, 
the oval, the pear-shaped, and the emphatically Egg-shaped 
Egg. A farmer's wife who interests herself in the matter, will 
tell you with precision, in looking over her stores, " this Egg 
was laid by such a Hen" — a favourite, perhaps — " this one by 



ON eggs: 101 

such another ;" and it would be possible that she should go on 
60 throughout the whole flock of poultry. Of course, the 
greater the number kept, the greater becomes the difficulty in 
learning the precise marks of each. From a basket of thirty 
^ggs, gathered in a farm-yard as they came to hand, eleven, 
laid by one or two Hens, whose race we were desirous to con- 
tinue, were selected in about two minutes by the friend who 
supplied us with them. If four dozen Eggs, laid by no more 
than four different Hens (especially if of different breeds), were 
put at random on a table, the chances are that it would be as 
easy to sort them as the four suits of a pack of cards. 

This fact might give rise to curious doubts in a court of 
justice. When petty pilfering has been suspected about a farm, 
Eggs have been minutely marked and returned to the places 
whence they were taken ; and the parties, in whose possession 
they were subsequently found, have been convicted of the theft. 
And this — if we shut our eyes to the crime (for it is a crime) 
of laying traps and throwing temptation in the way of the 
weak — was satisfactory proof. But there are some cases in 
which the identity of an Egg could be sworn to without any 
marking whatsoever; where the person robbed could affirm 
positively, '' this Egg is my property, laid by such a Hen,'^ — 
could pick it out from a quantity laid by other Hens, and could 
produce other Eggs to pattern it in proof of his assertion. Few 
town-bred juries would believe this; and yet it is quite as 
possible as that a north-country shepherd should swear to the 
countenance of a single sheep stolen from a flock of several 
hundreds — after the death of the animal too — which has been 
done. 

A more practical and agreeable application of our remarks 
may be made in the choice of Eggs for hatching. It has been 
copied and re-copied from quarto to octavo, through duodecimo 
and pamphlet, that small round Eggs produce female, and long 
pointed ones male chicks. Now I assert that the Hen who 



102 ON eggs: 

lays one round Egg, will continue to lay all her Eggs round ; 
and the Hen that lays one oblong, will lay all oblong. Con- 
sequently, one Hen would be the perpetual mother of Cocks, 
another must remain the perpetual producer of Pullets j which 
is absurd, as daily experience proves. Every dairy-maid knows 
that when a Hen steals a nest and hatches her own Eggs only, 
the brood which she brings home contains a fair proportion of 
either sex. I know well that if any of the said Hen's female 
acquaintance spy out her secret hoard, they will set other bipeds 
a good example by adding to, instead of substracting from, the 
property of her neighbour. But chance additions are not suffi- 
cient to account for the mixture of Cocks and Hens in self-set 
broods, supposing the theory to be correct, that the sex of the 
future chick is denoted by the form of the Egg. 

Here is an experiment in point. An old lady, whose fowls 
were all white, gave me a small globular Egg, as round as a 
ball ; it was added to a clutch of Speckled Dorkings. The re- 
sult was the due number of Dorkings, and one white cockerel, 
which we kept till he began to crow : it ought to have been a 
pullet, unless the compositor's fingers have been busy in re- 
printing one error at least. 

Another supposed test is the position of the air-bag at the 
blunt end of the shell. We are told that, " if it be a little on 
one side it will produce a Hen ; if this vacuity be exactly in 
the centre, it will produce a Cock." But, take a basket of 
Eggs, examine them as directed, by holding them between 
your eye and a candle, and you will find very few indeed in 
which you can say that the air-bubble is exactly concentrical 
with the axis of the Egg. A Cock ought thus to be, like 
Ovid's Black Swan, a rare bird. But, in many broods, the 
cockerels bear a proportion of at least one-third, sometimes two- 
thirds; especially in those hatched during winter or in unfavour- 
able seasons ; the immediate cause being, doubtless, that the 
Eggs producing the robuster sex possess a stronger vitality ; 



THEIR COLOUR, FORM, AND SEX. 103 

the more remote cause being the same wise la\r of Providence, 
through which, in the human race, more males are born into 
the world than females, to meet the wear and tear of war, 
labour, and accident. 

' " Neither," as Mr. Bissell shrewdly suggests, " are these 
two tests, viz., the shape of the Egg and the position of the 
air-bubble, consistent with each other. Since I have been an 
experimenter upon that subject," he says, " and my experience 
is corroborative of all that you have said, I will just give you 
the facts as they occurred in one or two instances out of a great 
number of similar ones. 

" The fact of the situation of the air-bag being as varied iu 
a round Egg as in an oval or long one, seems to me, of itself, 
to be fatal to the test by which we are told to distinguish the 
sex of future chickens ; for if the round Egg produces a pullet, 
and an Egg with the air-bag a little on one side produces the 
same, it argues that all round Eggs should have the air-bag in 
that position (the same argument applie^s to the long or oval 
Egg), or one test contradicts the other. That such is not the 
case, and that the position of the air-bag differs as much in a 
long Egg as it does in a round, I need hardly assert, for the 
doubt may be decided by the examination of a few Eggs by 
the light of a candle. In hatching my Spanish Fowls, I was 
careful to examine, and set none but round Eggs, with the air- 
bag on one side, and if there is any truth in either principle, I 
ought to have had all pullets ; but this, instead, is the result : — 
From thirteen Eggs selected as above stated, were hatched, in 
June, ten chickens, which proved to be four cocks, six pullets ; 
from eleven Eggs, set early in July, were produced six chick- 
ens, viz., three cocks and three pullets j from thirteen Eggs, 
set in July, were produced eight chickens, viz., five cocks and 
three pullets 3 so that you have about equal numbers of either 
sex from Eggs which were as like each other in form, size, and 



104 ON eggs: 

position of air-bag as it is possible for Eggs to be like each 
other. So much for the over wise \" 

In short, the Bubble Theory, as far as I have seen, is pro- 
perly described by its name; and there are, I believe, no 
known means of determining beforehand the sex of fowls, ex- 
cept, perhaps, that Cocks may be more likely to issue from 
large Eggs, and Hens from small ones. Knowing, however, 
that the Egg of each Hen may be recognised, we have thus the 
means of propagating from those parents whose race we deem 
most desirable to continue. 

A correspondent of the Agricultural Gazette has recorded 
another experiment : — " During the last summer I wanted to 
raise a stock of poultry from a favourite Hen and Cock. They 
were of the black-breasted red Game breed. The Cock was 
purely bred, but the Hen was a little crossed. The Eggs she 
laid were of a deep buff colour, and as she was the only Hen I 
had which laid yellow Eggs, they were easily collected. When 
I had twenty-six Eggs, I put thirteen of the largest under a 
brood Hen to be hatched ; one Egg got broken, the other 
twelve had chickens in them : one, however, died in the shell, 
and so the number was reduced to eleven. Of these one died 
before I could ascertain its sex; of the ten remaining, eight 
were cocks and two were pullets. The thirteen smaller Eggs, 
I also put under a broody Hen, and she hatched me ten chick- 
ens. Of these eight were pullets and two were Cocks. There 
is no difference in the shape of the Eggs laid by the same 
Hen ; in size they vary but little. I observe this peculiarity, 
that although the Hen has yellow legs and the Cock black, yet 
throughout four broods which I have had from the same Hen 
and Cock this summer, every yellow-legged chicken has 
proved a Cock, and every black-legged one a pullet." Sir 
Thomas Brown was quite right : " that the sex is discernible 
from the figure of Eggs, or that Cocks or Hens proceed from 



THEIR COLOUR, FORM, AND SEX. 105 

long or round ones, as many contend, experiment will easily 
frustrate." 

Horace, Columella, and Pliny had the same notions re- 
specting the shape of Eggs as are current now, but they ap- 
plied them to eating, rather than hatching purposes. The 
long eggs were better tasted, according to them, because they 
contained Cocks : " Those which are laid round, produce a 
female; the rest a male." — Pliny j lib. x.,c. 74. 



I 



106 



CHAPTER IV. 

EGGS : THEIR PRESERVATION FOR CULINARY PURPOSES. 

I HAVE taken some pains to ascertain the best means of 
preserving Eggs. I have visited country-produce dealers, 
freely exchanged views with them on the subject, and the con- 
clusion in every case was that h'yne-icater ('tis not very mate- 
rial whether salt be added or not) is the only means of pre- 
serving Eggs that will remunerafe/or (lie trouble. I have seen 
hogsheads of Eggs thus preserved in cellars from midsummer 
to the following spring, and preserved very well too. The 
water must be kept as highly charged with lime as it will bear. 

Mr. Pixon, quoting Mr. Cobbett, says, '' Preserved Eggs 
are things to run from, not after." Perhaps so, perhaps not, 
as the case may be. At any rate, many articles of cookery, 
which cannot be made without Eggs, are not things to run 
from ; and, therefore, preserved Eggs must be had, unless you 
choose to disappoint the little folks of their Christmas plum- 
pudding. The greater part of the Eggs brought to market in 
Norfolk during winter, are certainly displeasing enough, quite 
uneatable tii; I^t/gs, and only not offensive to the smell. They 
are saved from putrefaction by immersion in lime-water, to 
which salt is added by some housewives. When wanted, they 
are fished out of the tub, wiped, rubbed with a little silver-sand to 
give a fresh-looking roughness to the shell, and sold at the rate 
of eight for a shilling, if the season happen to be seyere. 



eggs: theie pre6ervation. 107 

Cooks say they answer their purpose : "but it is assuredly worth 
while to try for something better. 

Reaumur's experiments with varnish, so well known through 
the industry of compilers, appear to have succeeded. But 
varnished Eggs would be both too troublesome and too ex- 
pensive to be the subject of more than mere experiment. The 
best way of obtaining a practical result is to inquire what me- 
thod is pursued by any set of people to whom preserved Eggs 
are a matter of necessity, not luxury. Now there exists a 
tribe of men, British subjects, whose daily food, whose staflF of 
life, is Fowls and Eggs — both preserved during great part of 
the year. In maps of the Ancient World, the orhia veteribus 
notus, we see nations marked down as Ichthyophagi, Fish- 
eaters, Lotophagi, Lotus-eaters; and a new race, peculiar to 
the present day, appears to be springing up, the Mycophagi, or 
Fungus-eaters, who will be wise if they listen to the warnings 
of Dr. Lindley. Had the people of St. Kilda been known in 
those days, they would have been styled Ornithophagi, Bird- 
eaters, and Oophagi, I]gg-eaters. Instead of their keeping 
Fowls, the Fowls keep them. Martin, in his voyage to the 
Island of St. Kilda, (London mdcxcviii.) says, "I remember 
the allowance of each Man per diem, besides a Barley Cake, was 
eighteen of the Eggs laid by the Fowl called by them Lavy^^ 
and a greater number of the lesser Eggs, as they differ in pro- 
portion ; the largest of these Eggs is near in bigness to that of 
a Goose, the rest of the Eggs gradually of a lesser Size. We 
had the curiosity, after Three Weeks' residence, to make a Cal- 
cule of the number of Eggs bestowed upon those of our Boat, 



* Subsequently he says, " The Lavy, so called by the inhabitants 
of St. KiLda; by the Welch, a Guillem ; it comes near to the bigness 
of a Duck; its head, upper-side of the Neck all downwards, of a 
dark-Brown, and White Breast, the Bill strait and sharp pointed ; 
the upper Chop hangs over the lower ; its Feet and Claws are Black." 



108 eggs: their preservation 

and the Stewart's BirUn, or Galley — the whole amounted to 
Sixteen thousand Eggs ; and, without all douht, the Inhabit- 
ants, who were triple our Number, consumed many more 
Eggs and Fowls than we could. From this it is easy to ima- 
gine, that a vast number of Fowls must resort here all Sum- 
mer, which is yet the more probable, if it be considered that 
every Fowl lays but one Egg at a time, if allowed to hatch." — 
P. 12. Subsequently (p. 66) he tells us, ^^The Eggs are 
found to be of an Astringent and Windy Quality to Strangers, 
but, it seems, are not so to the Inhabitants, who were used to 
Eat them from the Nest (or cradle ?). Our Men, upon their 
arrival Eating greedily of them, became Costive and Feverish," 
&c. * * * (Then follows the remedy, which seems to have 
astonished the natives.) 

But this diet is to be had fresh only during a short part of 
the summer, and provision must be made to prevent famine in 
the winter, when it is too stormy to fish ; therefore, says Mar- 
tin, ^^They preserve their Eggs commonly in their Stone- 
Pyramids, scattering the burnt ashes of Turf under and about 
them, to defend them from the Air, dryness being their only 
Preservative, and moisture their Consumption ; they preserve 
them. Six, Seven, or Eight Months, as above said; and then 
they become Appetizing (ly and Loosening, especially those 
that begin to turn." Later travellers inform us that the same 
system still continues to be practised. 

The shells of these sea-birds' Eggs are more fragile than those 
of the common Hen, which circumstance must cause them to 
be more difficult to preserve ; and turf-ashes clearly make a 
sweeter and more effectual packing than lime-water, or the 
means usually adopted in England. But they are only to be 
had in certain localities. Wood-ashes are too light, and cinder- 

* Does this mean heavy on the chest, from the Italian a, and^e«o, 
the chest ? 



FOR CULINARY PURPOSES. 109 

ashes too loose, to exclude the air. The Irish plan of smearing 
fresh-laid Eggs with butter answers well for a limited time, but 
is insujQ&cient to keep them through the winter. The plan I 
have found to succeed best, and can recommend, is to dip each 
Egg into melted pork-lard, rubbing it into the shell with your 
finger, and pack them in an old fig-drum, or butter-firkin, set- 
ting every Egg upright, with the small end downwards. Eggs 
thus prepared in August, directly after harvest, have been 
boiled and eaten with relish by myself and family in the fol- 
lowing January. They were not like the Eggs we are used to 
in spring ; but I heard no complaint from the little ones, and 
they were much better than any kept Eggs we could buy. 

The following is a cheap and easy recipe on the same prin- 
ciple. Pack the Eggs to be preserved in an upright earthen 
vessel, with their small ends downwards. Procure from your 
butcher a few pounds of rough tallow the same day on which 
the sheep is killed j have this immediately cut into small pieces 
and melted down; strain it from the scraps, as is done with 
pork-lard, and pour it while warm, not hot, over the Eggs in 
the jar till they are completely covered. When all is cold and 
firm, set the vessel in a cool dry place, till its contents are 
wanted. 

The rough tallow will cost about 3^. a pound, and, if treated 
as directed, will be free from its usual unpleasant smell, caused 
by the fleshy parts being suffered to remain in the fat till melt- 
ing-day comes. When the Eggs are used, the grease need not 
be wasted, but will serve for many homely household purposes. 

But for those who scorn preserved Eggs, and must and will 
have fresh ones during the winter, the means most desirable to 
obtain success are to have young Hens — pullets hatched early 
the previous spring are the best — extreme liberality in feeding, 
and a cautious abstinence from overstocking the poultry-yard. 
Eggs are the superfluity of the animal's nutrition — ^the pro- 
fitable balance of its stock of provision. A certain quantity of 

10 



110 eggs: their preservation 

food will keep a certain quantity of Hens in health, without 
being sufficient to cause them to lay. Increase the quantity of 
food, or decrease the number of Hens, and you have a super- 
abundance, which produces Eggs. But as the rejected scraps 
of every family, and the refuse odds and ends of every farming 
premises, are tolerably steady in their amount, taking one 
month with another, it is better to have a small number of 
Hens, leaving them to forage fi-om the supply which is con- 
stantly open to them, than to trust to extra hand-feeding, which 
may be often neglected or shortened. 

A warm and dry night's lodging is good, but not so confine- 
ment during the day, even in the best of poultry-houses. The 
Hens will always keep themselves out of the wet, and no care 
can compensate for the exercise and variety of food afforded 
them by a state of liberty. 

There is nothing so instructive as a case, whether in law, 
physic, or poultry-keeping. During the hard winter of '46— '47, 
our own Hens not laying, we obtained a plentiful supply fresh 
laid from a neighbouring farm. The Hens were common dung- 
hill mongrels, the accommodation for them not so good as our 
own. But the Eggs were the perquisite of the farmer's wife — 
her pin-money by a mutual understanding — ^while the corn 
went into the pocket of the farmer. The lady consequently 
permitted her pullets, without the least remonstrance, to make 
a large hole in a barley-stack, pull out the straws one by one, 
and, when they had tasted an ear, if they did not approve its 
flavour, try another. Whether the man grumbled, and the wife 
pouted and carried her point, is not for us to tell, if we 
knew. It is certain that the price we were charged for the 
Eggs did not pay for the damage done by their production. 

A paragraph from the Perth Courier ran the round of the 
papers, and obtained considerable attention at the time (Dec, 
1847) from inexperienced poultry-keepers : — " Hens will lay 
Eggs perpetually, if treated in the following manner. Keep 



FOR CULINARY PURPOSES. Ill 

no Roosters" — what an elegant word ! — ^' give the Hens fresh 
meat, chopped up like sausage-meat, once a day, a very small 
portion, say half an ounce a day to each Hen during the win- 
ter, or from the time insects disappear in the fall, till they ap- 
pear again in spring. Never allow any Eggs to remain in the 
nest for what is called Nest-eggs. When the Roosters do not 
run with the Hens, and no Nest-eggs are left in the nest, the 
Hens will not cease laying after the production of twelve or 
fifteen Eggs, as they always do when Roosters and Nest-eggs 
are allowed, but continue laying perpetually. My Hens lay 
all winter, and each from seventy to one hundred Eggs in suc- 
cession. If the above plan were generally followed. Eggs would 
be just as plentiful in winter as in summer. The only reason 
why Hens do not lay in winter as freely as in summer, is the 
want of animal food, which they get in summer in the form of 
insects. I have for several winters reduced my theory into 
practice, and proved its entire correctness." 

No allowance is here made for the different laying and in- 
cubating capabilities of different breeds of Fowls; and the 
reader will be wise in hesitating before he consents to banish 
Cocks from his poultry-yard and Nest-eggs from his hen-house. 
The act of laying is not voluntary on the part of a Hen, but 
is dependent upon her age, constitution, and diet. If she be 
young, healthy, and well-fed, lay she must; if she be aged 
and half-starved, lay she cannot. All that is left to her own 
choice is, where she shall deposit her Egg, and she is some- 
times so completely taken by surprise, as not to have her own 
way even in that. The poultry-keeper, therefore, has only to 
decide which is the more convenient ; that his Hens should 
lay here and there, as it may happen, about his premises, or in 
certain determinate places, indicated to the Hens by Nest-eggs. 
It is quite a mistake to suppose that the presence of a Nest- 
egg causes a Hen to sit earlier than she otherwise would. The 
eight of twenty Nest-eggs will not bring on the hatching fever ; 



112 eggs: their preservation 

:md when it does come, the Hen will take to the empty nest, 
if there be nothing else for her to inonbate. Any one whose 
Hens have from accident been deprived of a male companion, 
will agree with me in saving that they have not done so well 
till the loss has been supplied. During the interregnum, mat- 
ters get all wrong. There is nobody to stop their mutual bick- 
erings, and inspire an emulation to please and be pleased. The 
poor deserted creatures wander about dispirit^, like soldiers 
without a general. It belongs to their very nature to be con- 
trolled and marshalled by one of the stronger sex, who is a 
kind, though a strict master, and a considerate, though stem 
diseiplinman. It does not appear what should make Hens 
lay better under such forlorn circumstances as are recommended 
in the Perth paragraph. They will sit just the same, when the 
fit seizes them, and so will Ducks ; as may be seen amongst 
those cottagers who, to save the expense of barley, keep two 
or three Hens or Ducks only, and procure from a neighbour a 
sitting of Eggs, as they want them. It has been stated by 
Reamuur, who is a high authority, that clear or unfertile Egga 
will keep good longer than those that would be productive ; 
but it is doubtful whether the difference is so great as to make 
it worth while keeping the Hens in a melancholy widowhood 
on this account. The most natural and least troublesome way 
of having a winter supply of Eggs, is to proems pullets hatched 
early in the previous spring, and to give them all they can eat 
of the best barley, or, if expense be disregarded, of the finest 
wheat. But all people are not so nice about their Eggs, par- 
ticularly during a long sea-voyage.* For example, '* It was 
upon one of the islands that I went on shore, and I foimd there 
such a number of birds, that when they rose they literally 



* *• Much depends on taste in matters of this sort ; and we once 
had a Londoner on a visit, who • heaved the gorge ' at the milk of 
new-laid Eggs, but ate Scotch Eggs with much satisfaction.'* — J. S. W. 



FOR CULINART PURPOSES. 113 

darkened the sky, and we could not walk a step without tread- 
ing upon their EggH. As they kept hovering over our heads 
at a little distance, the men knocked many of them down with 
stones and sticks, and carried off several hundreds of their 
Eggs. After some time I left the island and landed upon 
the main, where our men dressed and eat their Eggs, thr/ayh 
there were youmj Urdu in most of them.'' — Commodore Bi/rorCs 
Voyo/je round the World. 



10« 



114 



CHAPTER Y. 

EGGS : THEIR PRESERVATION FOR INCUBATION. 

Before quoting Mr. Dixon in continuation of this subject, 
I will briefly mention the method of preservation I have used 
for some time with great success. I put the Eggs on their 
points in a box in a cool dry place; the temperature about 
60° or 65°. I cover the bottom of the box with wlieat hran, 
then put in a layer of Eggs, and cover them with bran also, 
and so on while filling the box. The Eggs are kept dry, cool, 
and, being covered, the evaporation of their contents is ef- 
fectually prevented; at the end of six weeks, or even two 
months, the Eggs are as full as when they were laid, and 
almost as certain to hatch out. 

"Eggs for hatching,'^ says Mr. Dixon, should be as fresh 
as possible; if laid the very same day, so much the better. 
This is not always possible when a particular stock is required 
to be increased; but if a numerous and healthy brood is all 
that is wanted, the most recent Eggs should be selected. 
Some books tell us that Eggs to be hatched should not be 
more than a fortnight, others say not more than a month old. 
It is difficult to fix the exact term during which the vitality 
of an Egg remains unextinguished; it undoubtedly varies 
from the very first according to the vigour of the parents of 
the inclosed germ, and fades away gradually till the final 
moment of non-existence. But long before that moment, the 



FOR INCUBATION. 115 

principle of life becomes so feeble as to be almost unavailable 
for practical purposes. The chicks in stale Eggs have not 
sufficient strength to extricate themselves from the shell; if 
assisted, the yolk is found to be only partially absorbed into 
the abdomen, or not at all; they are too faint to stand, the 
muscles of the neck are unable to lift their heads, much less 
to peck; and although they may sometimes be saved by 
extreme care, their usual fate is to be trampled to death by 
their mother, if they do not expire almost as soon as they 
begin to draw their breath. Thick-shelled Eggs, like those 
of Geese, Guinea-fowl, &c., will retain life longer than thin- 
shelled ones, as those of Hens and Ducks. Those who are 
anxious to secure a valuable variety, one chicken of which is 
worth a whole brood of ordinary sorts, will run all risks; 
after seven or eight weeks their chance is not utterly gone. 
Some of the chicks will be found dead in the shell, but those 
that are hatched, if they survive the first eight-and-forty hours 
— the great difficulty — are not afterwards more weakly or 
troublesome than others. In the mean while, air should be 
excluded from the Egg as much as possible : it is best to set 
them on end, and not to suflFer them to lie and roll on the 
side. Dry sand or hard-wood sawdust (not deal, on account 
of the turpentine) is the best packing. But when choice Eggs 
are expected, it is more prudent to have a Hen waiting for 
them than to let them wait for her. A good sitter may be 
amused for two or three weeks with a few addle-eggs, and so 
be ready to take charge of those of value immediately upon 
their arrival. 

Eggs sent any distance to be hatched, should be tightly 
inclosed in a wooden box, and arranged so as neither to touch 
each other, nor the sides of the box. An oyster-barrel answers 
excellently for a small number. Mr. Cantelo, in his pamphlet, 
has recommended oats as a packing, and no doubt they form 
an excellent vehicle, taking little time to pack, filling all inter- 



116 eggs: their preservation 

slices, and moreover being useful at the journey's end. The 
Eggs shouki be shaken as little as possible, for fear of rupturing 
the ligaments by which the yolk is suspended in the centre of 
the Egg, and mixing the two strata of albumen surrounding 
it and letting the yolk loose. Nor should they be suflered to 
come in contact with any greasy substance that would close 
the pores of the shell, so as to exclude air from the chick. 
But my own experience of Eggs for hatching received from 
any long distance, is so utterly discouraging, as to forbid all 
future attempts, unless" the parcel can be carefully brought by 
hand. However well packed, they get so recklessly knocked 
about by the superabundant strength and activity of the rail- 
way porters, who would handle a box of Eggs and a box of ten- 
penny nails exactly in the same manner, that, at the end of a 
couple of hundred miles, and after shifting carriages three or 
four times, the germs of the Eggs are as completely destroyed 
by the concussion, as if they had been baked or boiled into 
custards. Mr. Cantelo advises, " should any valuable or rare 
Egg have a defect in the shell, it may be worth while to gum 
a piece of paper over the part affected, as it is through the 
extra-evaporation that it would otherwise fail in hatching." 
The following case, which has been communicated to me, is a 
practical commentary. "A Duck's egg was broken at the 
small end by a careless Hen when within a week of hatching. 
Perceiving that the inhabitant within was a fine lively fellow, 
I closed it over well with wax, and returned it to the nest. 
At the proper time the duckling came out lively enough, and 
proved the best of the brood." The same gentleman (H. H.) 
experienced another curious instance of difficulty in hatching. 
*' A young pigeon was unable, for reasons best known to him- 
self, to get more than his head and shoulders out of the egg. 
In this state he remained for days, the parts not growing, and 
the old birds still feeding him ! I released him afterwards, 
but he did not do nearly so well then, and soon died." 



FOR INCUBATION. 117 

" After a Hen has sat a week, if you have a thin board with 
a small orifice in it, place a candle at the back, and hold up 
each Egg to the point of light ; you will see at once whether 
the Eggs are fertile, when of course the others may be removed, 
and made use of hard boiled for young chickens. This hint 
I got from Mr. Cantelo's Exhibition, where the number of 
Eggs made it a great desideratum : but, in any case, it is much 
better to remove the bad Eggs." — W. D. F. 

Now we are on the subject of hatching, we may as well refer 
to the perplexity to which Poultry -keepers are sometimes sub- 
jected, when Hens vnll sit, at seasons of the year at which 
there is little chance of bringing up Chickens. Some advise 
the Hen to be soaked in a pail of water cold from the pamp : 
but if they have a mind to kill her, it is more cruel to do so 
by giving her fever and inflammation of the lungs, than by 
simply knocking her on the head. A less objectionable 
remedy, communicated by a gentleman who is not likely to 
speak unadvisedly, is the following, of which, however, I have 
no personal experience. ^^I have known one or two doses of 
jalap relieve them entirely from a desire to sit; and, in my 
opinion, it is far better than the cold-water cure. I have 
known English Fowls lay in three weeks afterwards.'^ But 
why not let the poor creatures obey their natural propensity ? 
Or, surely, some neighbour would gladly exchange a laying 
Hen for one that wanted to sit. Others, borrowing an ancient 
piece of barbarism,* recommend a large feather to be thrust 
through her nostrils; that she may rush here and there in 
terror, and give up all thoughts of sitting. The person who 



* "The inclination to hatch is prevented by thrusting a small 
feather through the nostrils." Columella, lib. viii., cap. 5. Pliny 
more humanely prescribes the same operation as a cure for the roup, 
*' pituita." " A feather thrust through the nostrils, and moved every 
day:" a seton, in fact. Lib. x., c. 78. 



118 eggs: their preservation 

would be capable of such cruelty, would properly walk arm- 
in-arm with the man who had tied a tin-kettle to his dog^s 
tail. The wisest way is to guide, instead of thwarting, the 
impulses of nature. Let your good Hen indulge the instinct 
implanted in her by a wiser Being than you : give her a sitting 
of Duck's or G-oose's Eggs, and, unless the winter be extra- 
ordinarily severe, you must be a bungler if you do not rear 
them by the aid of bread-crumbs, barley-meal, and a kitchen 
fire. The autumnal laying of the China, and also of the Com- 
mon Goose, is very valuable for the purpose. It need only 
be remembered that too much confinement will give your 
Goslings the cramp. But it is better to take a little pains, 
than to be guilty of the above-mentioned cruelties, or to let 
the poor creature spend her vivifying energies on an empty 
nest. Turkey-hens frequently have this late fit of incubation, 
and on the Continent are much more used as general hatchers 
than they are with us. One, which had been supplied with 
Duck's Eggs, hatched fifteen. As soon as she found out what 
sort of beings she had inti-oduced into the world, she glanced 
at them a look of that ineffable scorn, which a Turkey's eye 
can so well express, strutted slowly away, and never would 
notice them more. The Ducklings, however, were reared in 
spite of her airs ; the fire-side and their own innate vigour sus- 
taining them under the excusable neglect of their haughty 
foster-mother. One of mine chose to sit on some of her own 
Eggs in the middle of a turnip field at the end of October, 
1847. This would never do; so we brought her home, and 
set her upon seven Eggs of the Common Goose in a warm 
out-house. She hatched six birds, one of which was killed by 
accident. The remaining five she reared with the greatest 
affection. A little ordinary care, with a liberal supply of 
endive, cabbage-leaves, and other garden refuse, and, in time 
also, of barley, thus furnished us with a welcome lot of early 



FOR INCUBATION. 119 

However it is sometimes inconvenient for townspeople to 
have Hens wanting to sit unseasonably. Mr. Bissell says, " I 
have been sadly troubled in this way, and have tried almost 
every known method of getting them to forsake their nests, 
when I have not wanted them to sit, but without the least 
effect, until about two years ago I tried the simple plan of 
placing them in an aviary for about four or five days at most, 
and, feeding them but sparingly, when they will, from the 
commencement of their confinement, gradually leave off cluck- 
ing, and when they have done so, you may again set them free 
without the least fear of their wishing to take to the nest again; 
and, besides getting rid of a great deal of trouble with them, 
they will in a very short time commence laying again with 
renewed vigour." Keeping a Hen out in a coop on the cool 
grass for three or four days and nights has a similar tendency 
to abate the hatching fever. 

One of the most extraordinary feats of hatching on record, 
is that performed by Pliny's Syracusan drunkard, under whom, 
as he lay enjoying himself on the ground, some Sicilian wag 
slipped a sitting of Eggs, which at the proper time became 
Chickens ! 

Monstrous and misshapen Eggs are not uncommon. They 
are to be seen in most collections; and an Oologist of ordinary 
experience would be less puzzled by them, than by unex- 
pectedly meeting with the Egg of a tortoise. They have 
given rise to several absurd opinions, the oldest of which is a 
belief in "Cock's eggs," abortions of very small size, some- 
times properly shaped, sometimes shperical, and sometimes 
contracted in the middle like an hour-glass, with a thick shell 
and little or no yolk. We had a Hen that laid oUe every day, 
till we put a stop to the practice by eating her. Similar 
lusus have also been produced by the thrush, the linnet, the 
robin, and the plover. Country-people think " Cock's eggs" 
unlucky, and commonly destroy them when they find them; 



120 eggs: their preservation 

the effectual way to have better luck with Eggs would be to 
destroy the "Cock" that lays such unmarketable articles. 
Diseased ovaries are the undoubted cause, followed frequently 
by the assumption of the manners, and even of the plumage 
of the male. Such a change gives plausibility to the popular 
notion of Cocks laying Eggs, which is not yet exploded among 
the rustics. Whether it was an old form of speech or grounded 
on any vague belief of the sort, Mai'tin, before quoted, speaking 
of the number of Eggs laid by the Fulmar, uses the masculine 
gender throughout; thus, "he picks his Food out of the Back 
of live Whales; they say he uses Sorrel with it, for both are 
found in his Nest; he lays his Egg ordinarily the First, 
Second, or Third day oi May ; which is larger than that of a 
Solan Goose Egg, of a White Colour and very Thin, the shell 
so very tender that it breaks in pieces if the Season proves 
Rainy; when his Egg is once taken away, he lays no more 
for that year, as other fowls do," &c., p. 55. 

In the days of ignorance, people were now and then thrown 
into consternation by the appearance of Eggs marked with 
inscriptions or symbols, in relief, or intaglio. But the evi- 
dence of their having been laid in that state is so utterly 
wanting, and the chemical means of fiibricating them so simple, 
that it is needless in these times to enter fui-ther into the 
matter. Shell-less Eggs may be attributed, partly, to the 
want of a sufficiency of phosphate of lime in the food of the 
Hens, and sometimes to over-irritability in the Egg-organs, 
analogous to that which, in the Mammalia, causes abortion. 

Another strange, but unsupported belief, or dream, which 
I must think originated in a joke, or cram, from which impu- 
tation the weight of Aristotle's authority does not relieve it,* 

* " Some domestic Hens, also, bring forth twice in tlie day ; and 
some, after having been very prolific, have died in consequence ;" — • 
History of Animals, Book vi., c. 1, — as they do now. "I am very 



FOR INCUBATION. 121 

in the notion that there are Hens in existence that habitually 
lay more than one egg a day. One author says, there are 
Hens wild in Sumatra that lay three Eggs in a day; but he 
omits to state who watched these wild Hens to and from their 
nests. Another (Richardson) describing the Cochin China 
fowl (2d Edition, p. 38) says, *Hhey are prolific Hens; Mr. 
Nolan's frequently laying two, and, occasionally, three Eggs 
on the same day, and within a few moments of each other.'' 
The statement is confirmed by Irish Arithmetic. "One of 
the Hens," he continues, "Bessy, exhibited by her Majesty, 
laid ninety-four Eggs in one hundred and three days," — not 
quite three Eggs a day, according to our " calcule." But if this 
be a fact, there is no limit to the improvement of which these 
double-barrelled Hens are capable, till, by the aid of forcing 
and extra diet, they become, like Mr. Perkins's steam gun, 
able to discharge Eggs at the rate of several dozens in a minute. 
Seriously, it is quite true that the Hen, like other creatures 
that usually produce but one at a birth, has an occasional 
tendency to produce twins; but I believe it will be found that 
such twins hitherto observed, have heen united in one shell, and 
not produced separately . Double-yolked Eggs are well known 
to cooks, and to farmers' wives. 8ome with triple yolks occur 
now and then, but rarely. Twin chickens may have rarely 
proceeded from one Egg. The classic fable of Castor and 
Pollux looks like some such experience among the ancients; 
but those Eggs, being oversized, are usually rejected for hatch- 
ing, and I remember no really authenticated instance of the 
kind, unless the reader be good-naturedly disposed to accept 

averse to any means being used to force Hens to lay, (such as min- 
gling cayenne-pepper, &c., with their food,) as it induces premature 
decrepitude. 1 am continually finding Fowls suffering from dropsy, 
which I attribute to this cause. I have taken from a Hen two bags 
of clear water containing a quarter of a pint, and dissection proved 
their connection with the ovarian system." — John Bailey. 

11 



122 eggs: their preservation 

a case from Aristotle as sucli. However, his idea of twinning 
in Hens evidently coincides with ours, in spite of his having 
asserted that some fowls lay twice a, day. "Double Eggs, 
however, have two yolks, which sometimes, that they may not 
be confounded, are separated by a thin interstice of the white; 
and sometimes the two yolks are in contact with each other 
without this interstice. There are, also, some Hens that bring 
forth all their Eggs double, so that in these also, the above- 
mentioned circumstance happens respecting the yolk. For a 
certain Hen having brought forth eighteen double Eggs, dis- 
closed a chicken from each, those Eggs excepted which were 
tinprolific. Two chickens also were disclosed from each of the 
double Eggs, but one of the chickens was larger than the 
other. But the last chicken that was disclosed was a monster." 
— History of Animals, bookvi., chap. iii. — Taylor's Translation. 
The following is a plausible, but by no means a convincing 
case. " At Monklaw, near Jedburgh, there was a Duck which 
laid two Eggs in a day. The fact was proved by locking the 
bird up, when one egg was found early in the morning and 
another in the evening. This remarkable Duck was killed 
by a servant ignorant of its virtues." — Note to White' s Natural 
History of Selhourne, Captain Brown's Edition, p. 291. Now 
Mowbray says, "the Duck generally lays by night, or early 
in the morning, seldom after ten o'clock, with the exception 
of chilling and comfortless weather, when she will occasionally 
retain her Egg until mid-day or the afternoon." Suppose 
then that the confined Duck, exercising her power of retaining 
her Egg (a faculty often obstinately used by the Turkey-hen, 
if it be desired to make her lay in other places than she 
chooses) — suppose the Duck had laid one, say at two in the 
morning, and another at ten in the evening of the same day, 
that could scarcely be called ^'laying two Eggs a day," unless 
the confinement had continued, and the same productiveness 
been manifested for several days in succession. It is here 



FOR INCUBATION. 123 

that proof of the Jiahit fails.* Now in regard to the other 
mode of twinning, the same Editor quotes a correspondent in 
Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, who says, "I have 
lately seen a preternaturally large, but perfect G-oose's Egg, 
containing a smaller one within it ) the inner one possessing 
its prefer calcareous shell." This is certainly a very singular 
production. "We have frequently known 'shells to have two 
yolks, but this is the only instance we have met with of one 

* The subjoined statement is from a friend on whose strict veracity 
I can quite rely. "In the summer of 1849, I had a Cock and Hen 
Malay. I kept them in a house with a little yard attached to it, 
and am certain that no other Fowls could get to them, as the whole 
was netted over. I have no other prodigy to tell of this Hen (which 
was a had layer before the occurrence, and not a layer at all since 
it) but that she layed four Eggs within forty-eight hours. Thus : 
on Thursday evening at six o'clock there were no Eggs ; the next 
morning there were two ; on Saturday morning there was one more ; 
and on Saturday evening before six o'clock another Egg was layed. 
Now this was laying four Eggs certainly within forty-eight hours, 
but it may have been Mdthin a still shorter space of time. I could 
not be mistaken respecting the Eggs, because I then had only two 
mongrel Hens, which layed very taper Eggs, and some S. Hamburg 
Hens, which layed purely white Eggs, whereas the Malay layed very 
large and yellow ones ; her Eggs were likewise of a peculiar shape, 
all of them having a small indenture or mark round them just about 
the middle. If all the Hens had been kept together in one poultry- 
yard, I should have had no more doubt as to which laid the Eggs in 
question, than I have now. I have told perhaps half-a-dozen people 
of the circumstance, but have reason to think that nobody believed 
me ; and this, added to the opinions expressed in your book, would 
certainly have prevented me from sending you the above account, 
but that I am perfectly convinced of its correctness. I kept the Hen 
for three months after this occurred, and fed her upon corn, green 
food, with meal now and then, but she never laid another Egg whilst 
I had her." — G. P. S. I can only suppose this to be a case of re- 
tention of the Egg from disease, or other cause, and is quite the 
contrary to being an instance of unusual fecundity. 



12i eggs: their preservation 

Egg containing another entire one within it." Other in- 
stanceS; however, are known. A gentleman in my neighbour- 
hood possesses one, if not two Hen's Eggs, each of which 
contains within itself another smaller Egg with a perfect and 
complete shell; confirming the statement that twins, in the 
case of Eggs, are enclosed in one common envelope, and not 
produced one immediately after the other, as in mammalia. 

Mr. Alfred Whitaker says, "I find no room for criticism 
in your manuscript. Every fact asserted is borne out by my 
own experience, with the exception that I never saw an in- 
stance of one Egg containing another entire Egg within it. 
Double Eggs I have frequently seen. Their size, and fre- 
quently a sort of suture across and around the centre of the 
Egg, sufficiently indicate their twin nature. Many years ago 
(in my boyhood) I placed one of these double Eggs among a 
sitting of Eggs under a Hen. Two live chickens were brought 
up to the hatching point, but that labour appeared to be too 
much for their somewhat divided strength, and they were not 
actually born alive. The fact, however, shows that the Egg 
in question was a perfect twin Egg.'' This is a very remarka- 
ble case, and deserved preservation in a museum. 

^^The umbilical part of Eggs is within them from the top, 
as it were a drop projecting inside the shell.'' — Pliny, lib. x., 
c. 74. This evidently has reference to the air-bubble. But 
I am in possession of an Egg of more than ordinary size, laid 
by a Buenos Ayres Duck, which has one end enclosed, termi- 
nating in a sort of membranous funnel, or a continuation of 
the lining membrane of the shell, giving the appearance of a 
divided umbilical cord.* An instance which is not unique. 
" On the day after my return from London, I was looking 

* "The stalks of Eggs, whereby they grow to the ovarium, are not 
solid after the manner of the footstalks of fruits, but hollow and 
fistulous. " — Willoughby. 



FOR INCUBATION. 125 

round my farm-yard, and found a fresh nest, in a calves' stage, 
with one egg in it. On taking it up, my servant said, ^ Here 
is something curious,' and I observed that the Egg was evi- 
dently double, and that a small portion of the large end of the 
shell was soft, and that, from the centre of the soft part, a 
membranous substance was protruding, looking like a dried- 
up umbilical cord. I opened the egg carefully, and found 
that this cord was attached to an oval sac within, of a dark 
colour, filling half the Egg, and that below this there was a 
perfect yolk. I took out this sac, with the cord attached to 
it, entire, and put it at once into spirits of wine. My surgeon, 
who is quite a naturalist and a very scientific man, was much 
interested with it. His impression was, that the sac contained 
a chick, and that incubation had been going on in the cloaca 
of the mother.''—^. W. 

As a tail-piece to this chapter, may be mentioned the popular 
idea that Eggs are formed in clusters of three in the ovary of 
the Hen ; I mentioned this, per letter, to David Taggart, Esq., 
of Northumberland, Pa., who is remarkably observant of every 
thing connected with this subject, and he very kindly and 
promptly replied to my inquiry as follows : — 

" It may be that Eggs are formed in the ovary in clusters 
of three, but I am very certain they are not laid so. A Hen 
is just as apt to lay 2, or 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, or 11, in as many days, 
as 3, 6 or 9. I will prove it, by giving in figures the laying 
of one of my favourites, this season, up to the time of sitting 
and afterwards. She commenced in January, and this will 
account for the slow laying at first — 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 
6, 7, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 11,-102 ;— and then in this 
fashion after giving up her chickens — 2, 3, 7, 5 — (to be con 
tinned). And let me add, she has never missed two successive 
days. You will wonder at the minuteness of my observations, 
but they are nevertheless mathematically correct and reliable." 



126 



CHAPTER VI. 

VARIETIES OF THE SHANGHAE FOWL. 

The pure, thorough-bred Shanghae Fowl, in its varieties, is, 
perhaps, the best, all things considered, of any which we know. 
The portraits opposite represent a Stag, two Pullets, and a 
Chick, which I bred last summer, and shipped to Henry Law- 
rence, Esq., of Mobile. The Chick and Stag were unfortu- 
nately lost on the voyage : their places I subsequently supplied 
by others. The age of the Stag and Pullets, at the time they 
were sketched, was about five months; the Stag had, just com- 
menced to crow, and weighed seven pounds and ten ounces ; the 
Pullets had not begun to lay, and weighed each five pounds 
and a half, good ; the age of the Chick was about six weeks. 
The Stag and two Pullets are from a pair of Fowls, which I 
designate the ^' Huntress" variety, as they were brought 
over in a ship of that name, direct from Shanghae, in the spring 
of 1847. The father of the Stag and Pullets is now in the 
possession of H. L. Devereux, Esq., of Boston. The father 
of the Chick was imported last spring in the ship ^^ Tartar" — 
he is a noble fellow, and is now in the possession of E. R. Cope, 
Esq., of this vicinity. Of those imported in 1847, per ship 
" Huntress," the Hen was of a bay or light yellowish colour, 
and the Cock a yellow or reddish dominique. About one-half 
of the Stags from this pair are in plumage like the father, the 
other half are yellow, or red, black tails, and occasionally black 



o W 




THE SIIANOnAE FOWL. 127 

on the breast. The Pullets all take after the mother, present- 
ing a very uniform appearance. 

The following is a sufficiently minute and accurate descrip- 
tion of this variety. The Cock, when full-grown, stands about 
twenty-eight inches high, that is, if he be a good specimen — 
the female about twenty-two or twenty-three inches. I have 
never seen a large comb or heavy wattles on the Hen, at any 
age ; whereas, the comb of the male is high, deeply indented, 
and his wattles double and large. I regard, however, as the 
chief characteristics of this variety, not the comb and wattles, 
nor even the reddish-yellow feathered leg, but the abundant, 
soft, and downy covering of the thighs, hips and region of the 
vent, together with the remarkably short tail and large mound 
of feathers piled over the upper part of its root, giving rise to 
a considerable elevation on that part of the rump. It should 
be remarked, also, that the wings are quite short and small in 
proportion to the size of the Fowl, and carried very high up 
the body, thus exposing the whole of the thigh, and a consi- 
derable portion of the side. These characteristics are not found 
in the same degree in any other Fowl of which I have any 
knowledge. This peculiar arrangement of feathers gives the 
Shanghue Fowl in appearence, what it has in reality, a greater 
depth of quarter, in proportion to the depth of brisket, than any 
other Fowl. As to the legs, they are not very peculiar. The 
colour is usually reddish-white or flesh-colour, or reddish-yel- 
low, mostly covered down the outside, even to the end of the 
toes, with feathers. This last is not always the case. The 
Stag, in the preceding illustration, has no feathers on his legs, 
while the Pullets, his sisters, are rather heavily feathered. He 
is, however, an exception to the rule, so far, at least, as his 
particular family is concerned. But other families of Shang- 
haes, equally pure, are but very lightly feathered. A gentle- 
man of my acquaintance, Mr. A. Newbold, of Philadelphia, re- 
ceived, in the spring of 1847, from Captain Lock wood, direct 



128 VARIETIES OF THE 

from the city of Shangliae, a Cock and Hen, as pure as any 
Shanghaes I have seen, differing from other importations only 
in being nearly smooth-legged, and not attaining to the weight 
of other specimens. In the second or third generation there 
was scarcely a feather-legged Shanghae on his premises. 

The plumage of the thorough-bred Shanghae is remarkably 
soft and silky, or rather downy, and is, in my opinion, equally 
as good for domestic purposes as those of the Goose. They are 
certainly quite as fine and soft, if not as abundant. 

The fertile qualities of this breed may be inferred from what 
has been attested concerning it. The gentleman from whom 
I procured the stock previously herein portrayed, wrote to me 
concerning the imported pair, that, although they had been for 
several months from the ground, and, when they arrived, poor 
and verminous, yet, on turning them out about the latter end 
of May, from that time to the first of the ensuing October, the 
Hen laid forty-eight Eggs and hatched out two broods. The 
last brood included twelve Chicks, ten of which he raised 
through the winter, thus proving themselves able to endure 
our ever-changing climate. I myself have found the pure 
Shanghae to equal, if not to excel, any other Fowl in laying 
qualities — perhaps, the Black Poland Fowl or the Creole may 
lay a few more Eggs in a year, in consequence of not being so 
frequently broody, but their Eggs are not so rich and nutri- 
tious. Read the testimony of Mr. T. Ames, of Marshfieid, 
Mass. He says, ^^ that one of his neighbours, Mr. Phillips, 
has a Pullet of this breed, which laid one hundred and twenty 
Eggs in one hundred and twenty-five days, then stopped six 
days, then laid sixteen Eggs more, and stopped four days, and 
is now laying ) and that he (Mr. Ames) has one that has done 
equally well.'' The Eggs are generally of a pale yellow or nan- 
keen colour, not remarkably large compared with the size of the 
Fowl, and generally blunt at the ends. I have known but one 
thorough-bred Hen that laid a long Egg, and have never yet 



SHANGHAE FOWL. 129 

known one to lay what are called double Eggs. The comb is 
generally single, though I have, in some specimens, seen a 
slight tendency to rose. I have never seen one with a top- 
knot. 

The flesh of this Fowl is tender and juicy, unexceptionable 
in every respect — ^in fact, a dish fit for an Emperor. In view, 
then, of the goodly size of the Shanghae, weighing, as the 
males do at maturity, from ten to twelve pounds, and the fe- 
male from seven and a half to eight and a half pounds, and 
Stags and Pullets of six months respectively eight and six: 
pounds, — ^in view also of the economical uses to which its soft 
downy feathers may be applied, also its productiveness, har- 
diness, and, lastly, its quiet and docile temper, — in view of 
these things, I am well pleased with pure Shanghaes. I know 
not a better Fowl. In truth, I might say of it, as the pious 
Isaac Walton was wont to say of the trout, his favorite fish — 
" G-od might have made a better fish, but he did not ;" so of 
the pure unadulterated Shanghae. 



130 VARIETIES OF THE 

The cut on the opposite page accurately represents im- 
ported adult Shaugliaes which their present owner, E. R. Cope, 
Esq., procured from me last summer. They were imported 
about the middle of last April, direct from the city of Shang- 
hae, the head-quarters of this celebrated breed. The Cock I 
suppose to be from eighteen to twenty months old — the pre- 
cise age of the Hen is not known. One of the hens weighed, 
while in my keeping last summer, nearly eight and a half 
pounds, and I would here remark that juire Shanghae Hens 
riirely exceed that. By crossing them with a Malay Cock, or, 
indeed, any large Cock, not a Shanghae, they might be thus 
made to produce mongrels that would di-aw nine, ten, or even 
more pounds; but beyond a first cross, fertility, and every 
other valuable quality, would doubtless be sacrificed to the 
increase of bulk. 

I have just received a letter from my friend, H. L. Devereux, 
Esq., of Boston, to whom I sent a pair of Shanghaes of my 
1847 importation, and he writes, concerning them and their 
progeny, as follows : 

" Friend K. : — Yours of the 9th November, came duly to 
hand, and just in the midst of our great Poultry Exhibition. 
It would have pleased me amazingly for you to have seen with 
your own eyes the vast amount of Poultry upon the ground. 
Our tent was one hundred and fifty-four feet long, by one 
hundred and fifty wide, filled completely with cages, reserving 
room enough only for the people to walk. It was indeed a 
magnificent exhibition, a report of which I will send you as 

soon as issued I have not done much for the last three 

weeks but prepare, attend to, and settle up the affairs of that 

exhibition Next week I will endeavour to send you 

some matter for your forth-coming volume on Poultry 



SHANGHAE EOWL. 131 

I had almost forgotten to say, that the offspring of the Cock 
and Hen I had of you, %oere as good as any thing in the whole 
exhibition. I had, of those raised by a friend of mine, who 
took the Fowls last spring, previous to my moving into the 
country, two young Stags, and six Pullets, that were fully up 
to any thing.'^ 

This importation, which, to distinguish it from others, I will 
call (from the name of the ship) the Huntress Importa- 
tion, is quite equal to any I have yet seen. E. R. Cope, Esq., 
of this city, obtained from me some of my best Fowls of this 
stock, and he himself will say what, on trial, he thinks of them, 
as well as of some which we jointly imported from London. 

Dr. J. J. Kerr, 

My Dear Sir : — I take advantage of the first leisure mo- 
ment to make good my promise " to let you know how I liked 
my imported Chickens." 

The coop contained, as you are aware, two Pullets and one 
Stag of the Royal Cochin 'China breed, and one Pullet and 
one Stag of thorough-bred Malay Fowls. 

The shipment was made at London, on the 15th July, but, 
in consequence of a misdirection, did not reach me until the 
latter end of August, so that the Fowls were in coop more than 
four weeks. 

The Royal Cochin Chinas were in almost as fine order as 
though they had been ranging over the lawns at *• Windsor," 
and one of the Pullets commenced laying within one week 
after their arrival, and the other followed a few days later, I 
was inclined to think, from this specimen, their laying pro- 
pensities had not been over-rated, and I take pleasure in say- 
ing they have fully maintained their reputation in this regard 
up to the present time. The two Pullets produced three dozen 
of Eggs, and, the weather then becoming very hot and sultry, 
they ceased laying. They commenced again in October, and 



182 VARIETIES OP THE 

continued laying until the cold weather set in early the present 
month. 

As regards the appearance of these Fowls, I am not inclined 
to say a great deal, being fully convinced that your Artist, Mr. 
Croome, will do justice to their fine proportions in the engraving 
he is about to make. 

To casual observers, their general appearance is not widely 
different from the Shanghae Fowl, but, when closely exa- 
mined, the body of the Pullet is longer than any I have seen of 
its more northern relative (for related, and closely too, they 
certainly are). There is less offal, the legs being shorter, and 
one of my Pullets, the older of the two, has a deeper and bet- 
ter developed breast, and greater breadth of back than any of 
my Shanghae Fowls. 

The Grower is a very handsome Fowl, with beautiful bright 
plumage, the feathers soft and fine as down. He has a fine, 
erect carriage, bright eye, great breadth of back, full chest and 
deep in the quarter. His comb is single and serrated, thin 
wattles, and legs feathered. The colour of the legs of these 
Fowls is uniform — a light flesh-colour, while those of the Dub- 
lin stock are varied. I have a Pullet of the latter stock, with 
legs almost black, and I am informed others are green, yellow, 
&c. &c. Although Mr. Nolan's (the Dublin) stock, may 
" have taken a premium at a late fair at the side of the Queen's 
Fowls," it could not have been for pure breeding, or else the 
theory " that uniformity in the colour of the legs is the very 
best evidence of pure and careful breeding," is an exploded 
idea j and this latter I do not believe. 

These Fowls are very quiet and peaceable, but the Stag does 
not lack courage. They are always ready to take their food, but 
are satisfied with a much smaller quantity than the Shanghaes. 
I was a little fearful our cold winters might affect them un- 
favourably, but we have already had some pretty cold days, 
and they have shown no symptoms of feeling the change. 



SHANGHAE FOWL. - 133 

My Malay Fowls are evidently a primitive breed of Chick- 
ens, unlike any thing I have seen, except the print of the 
" Wild Indian Game/' in Dr. Bennett's recent book on Poul- 
try. My Pullet resembles the engraving referred to very 
closely ; but as she was sent to me as a pure Malay Fowl, I 
prefer calling her by that name. She is a dark-brown colour, 
with a short, lofty tail, long neck, without comb or wattles, and 
very compactly built. Her legs are long and bony, and all 
her proportions indicate great strength. Although young, 
(under a year,) she is mistress of the yard, the older Hens 
having long since acknowledged her supremacy. 

The Stag is a noble Fowl, small head, with very small comb, 
and nearly no wattles, bright eye, long neck, broad back, and 
stands high on two as strong and bony legs as can be produced. 
His plumage is dark-brown, and brilliant red. He is a perfect 
model of strength, very courageous, but always acts on the de- 
fensive. He will not commence a battle unless the provocation 
is great, but then his foe must beware. To conclude, both he 
and his mate are two of the quietest Fowls in my collection, 
and will, at any time, eat from my hand, and allow me to han- 
dle them at pleasure. 

My Shanghae Fowls have fully met my expectations in 
all regards. They are very prolific in Eggs, grow large, and 
are remarkably exempt from disease. 

My Imjported Coch, now under two years old, weighs 
thirteen pounds. Notwithstanding his great weight, he is very 
active, stands firm upon his legs, and has a very erect carriage. 
His plumage is deep, brilliant yellow. He is very attentive 
to his Hens, and exercises a most fatherly care over the Chicks 
in his yard. This latter trait I consider invaluable in a rooster. 

I was much amused, last fall, to observe the excellent care he 
exercised over Chicks deserted by their mother. He fre- 
quently would allow them to perch upon his back, and in this 
manner carry them into the house, and then up the chicken- 

12 



fSi VARIETIES OF THE 

ladder. "When they would reach that part of the ladder they 

■were in the habit of roosting upon, the Chicks would leave 
his back and perch one under each of the old gentleman's 
wings. This trait of character may not be singular, but I have 
never noticed it to the same extent in any other rooster that 
has come under my observation. 

I have several very tine Shanghae Hens, some of them im- 
ported, but as my space and time are both limited, I must 
content myself by referring to one only. I select this one on 
account of her peculiar colour, viz., a rich, brownish-red. 
I have never before seen a Shanghae Hen with dark-red 
plumage ; and this singularity, added to her fine proportions, 
makes her a most desirable Fowl to breed from. It will not 
be information to you, but for the benefit of some of your 
readers not so familiar with this breed of Fowls, I will state 
that the prevailing colour of the Hens is light-yellow nankeen, 
dark-yellow, and occasionally a light-bay colour. This red 
Hen weighs nine j>otindSy and I am fully convinced this is the 
maximum weight of pure Shanghae Hciis. 

In conclusion, I will remark that I am well pleased with my 
Fowls, and consider my Royal Cochin Chinas, Malays, 
and Shanghaes, if not the best in the country, certainly the 
best of these varieties I have met with. 

Yours very truly, 

E. R. Cope. 

Swedelandj December, 1850. 

The following letter will show the estimation in which the 
Eev. Mr. Bumstead holds the Shanghae Fowl : 

Hoxborouffh, Fa., December 13, 1850. 

Dr. J. J. Kerr, 

Dear Sir, — I much regret my absence from home on the 

day that Mr. called to examine my Poultry. Since our 

interview at the ^' Fair," my Fowls have much improved in 



8 II A N G II A E FOWL. 135 

appearance. My Htock has alHO greatly increased, having 
rnhcA over fifty (JliickenHj both of tlie Wliite aud Hrowii 
Shangha<iH. Several of these are two monthH old, the largest, 
,moHt beautiful and hardy OhickenH, for their age, I have ever 
seen. They command genc^ral admiration. Though laUi in 
the fteaHon when hatched, yet we have lost but two of the whole 
number. They are heavily feathered, and have all the ap- 
pearance of our common Pullets of three and four months 
old. 

I hazard nothing in saying, that, if the farmers of Penn- 
Bylvania knew the worth of these Fowls, no eflort would bo 
spared to obtain them. Of the various breeds, none can ex- 
ceed (so far as my experience goes; the Shanghaes and the 
Cochin China liens for laying. In the month of September, 
I received from Frederick II. Whitney, Eii({., of Dedham, Mass. 
(who had a large assortment of imported Fowls), three Cochin 
China, and two White Shanghae Fowls, and since that time, 
they have laid more Eggs than the whole of my common 
Fowls together. These liens have laid almost daily, since 
that time, and have hatched out five broods j and for three 
weeks past, there is not a day but they give me an Egg. One 
of the White Shanghae Hens, though smaller in size than 
the others, lays a very large Egg— her Eggs are of a chocokte 
colour, and very rich. She is emphatically the Hen that lays 
the f/olden E(jy. And though I place no confidence in the 
Statement of those who assert that the Cochin China lien fre- 
quently lays two Eggs on the same day, yet I must say she 
comes tka w-zxt tidwj to it. 

I have in my possession a Cochin China Cockerel, of a yel- 
lowish-brown colour, a most perfectly formed bird — his plu- 
mage the most glossy and beautiful— and though, but six months 
old, of great size and power. The double joint of the wing 
peculiar to this class of Fowls, is quite perceptible. lie is 
my pet bird, and consequently is treated with great kindness. 



136 VARIETIES OP THE 

I am glad to hear you intend publishing a book on Poul- 
try. No doubt but you will give us just the book we need for 
this latitude. There is a deficiency in many of the works on 
this subject, which you will be able to supply. 

Tell our Pennsylvania farmers that one Rooster and two 
Hens of the Shanghae breed, will give them more Eggs in 
three months time, of a greater size and richer quality, than 
five times that number of ordinary Hens will do in one year, 
and will hatch out a finer brood, with less trouble and more 
certainty, than any Fowls they have heretofore possessed. And 
though it is said, we must never count the Chickens before they 
are hatched, yet to this rule there is one exception, viz., the 
Shanghae Fowls. 

Respectfully Yours, 

Samuel A. Bumstead. 

P. S. — I have also a large black Hen, the Eggs of which 
very much resemble those of the Cochin China, quite brown in 
their colour, and very rich. I have crossed this breed with 
the Brown Shanghae, of which I have now some very fine 
Pullets, to which I give the name of the Black Shanghae. I 
wish much for you to see them. Will you not favour us with 
a visit soon ? 

There is a neighbour of mine, Mr. Samuel Hagy, who owns 
a variety of Fowls, of a very valuable breed. He has the 
large Spanish Fowl, and some of the Indian breed. He thinks 
there are no Hens in the country that lay larger Eggs — they 
always command a high price, and are eagerly sought for. I 
shall be pleased to introduce you to his famed stock of Poultry. 

S. A. B. 

My post-office address is Leverington, Philadelphia county, 
Pa., or Manayunk. 

That variety of Shanghaes called the red, is thus described 
by the following correspondent, who says :— 



SHANGHAE FOWL. 137 

" In the year 1849, there was brought out, on board of the 
Ship Vancouver, from Shanghae, a breed of Fowls, which 
differs from all others imported from Shanghae, in shape, size, 
and form of the combs, and the shape and length of the wat- 
tles. These Fowls have short legs, and their thighs are larger 
in diameter than any others brought from that region. 

" The body is very wide and deep, and the breast is broad and 
full, giving the Fowls an uncommonly square appearance. 
The comb is very large, compared with other Shanghae Fowls, 
and is larger than that of the Black Spanish, pure specimens 
of which I have in my yard — they are the original Spanish, 
selected expressly for me in the interior of Fayal : the Eggs 
from which have weighed from four to four and a half 
ounces each, though the Hens seldom weigh over four pounds 
each. 

" The form of the comb of the Shanghae is circular, not an- 
gular, as the comb of all others brought from Shanghae, and 
is deeply serrated, and like the comb of the Black Spanish. 
The wattles are larger than those of any other Fowls, not except- 
ing the Black Spanish. The cheeks are red. The ear lobes, and is 
also of that colour, and in keeping with the size of the wattles. 
The legs and feet are fully feathered, more than in any other 
breed. 

"I still have the original, which have been carefully guarded, 
and the progeny have improved in size upon the original stock. 

John Fassell." 

In a letter to the author, Mr. Geo. P. Burnham, of Boston, 
Mass., who has bred several varieties of this stock, during the 
past two years, speaks as follows : — 

" For all the purposes of a really good Fowl, whether I 
speak of beauty of model, good size, or laying qualities, I deem 
the thorough-bred Shangliaes among the best, and generally 
most profitable of domestic birds. For the last two years, I 

12* 



138 VARIETIES OF THE 

have bred the Marsh stock, the ForbeSj the Palmer, the Par- 
sons, the Baylies, and my own importations ; and I have done 
this practically and experimentally, with a view to obtaining 
the most prolific, all circumstances considered. 

'■^ The Marsh stock breeds rather uneven, latterly ; many of 
the fourth and fifth generations coming deformed and im- 
perfect; this stock is very good, however, and most of the 
birds prove highly satisfactory. The Forbes and Palmer stocks, 
for Shanghaes, are very superior. The Baylies and Parsons 
importations are comparatively run out, from long and careless 
breeding \ and the specimens this year, do not come up to the 
original at all. The "Perley" Fowls, imported two or three 
years since into Salem, are good, and the progeny come very 
like the original ; but they are not so large, generally, as some 
others. J. Fassell, Esq., of Roxbury, has an importation of 
his own, which promise finely. 

^^ From my own importations last season, I have several very 
fine specimens of pure Shanghaes, uniform in colour and cha- 
racteristics, and remarkably heavy for their ages — the Stags, at 
five to six months old, weighing eight and a half and nine 
pounds, and Pullets, of the same age, five and a half and six 
and a half pounds each, live weight. At maturity, these 
samples will weigh eighteen and nineteen pounds a pair, alive, 
I do not doubt. The Cock and best imported Hen, (say 
eighteen months old,) now weigh, after the first moult, seven- 
teen and three-quarter pounds the pair ; the Cock is a very fine 
one, heavily feathered to the toes, (as are also the Hens,) and 
his colour is a dark brown and black. The Hens (pullets) are 
of a fawn or pale bufi". They are short-legged, comparatively, 
but heavy bodied, handsomely plumed, and among the very 
best layers I have ever yet seen. I send you a pair of the Pul- 
lets, which you can judge of better upon examination. They 
are a fine sample of the whole. I have a dozen more, precisely 




BE. EBEX WRIGHT'S WHITE SHANGIIAE FOWLS. 



SHANGHAE FOWL. 139 

like them, (retained for breeding next spring,) and I deem 
them very superior as Shanghaes. 

" I have never seen their equals for laying early. In one 
or two cases, the Cochin Chinas I imported, have commenced 
to lay at four and a half to five months old. These Shanghaes 
begin, invariably, at early six months old, and they are very 
prolific, laying large Eggs, and a great many of them, before 
showing a desire to sit. All things considered, they are cer- 
tainly a valuable species of Domestic Fowl, and I am highly 
pleased with them. 

^'I have now on the way, direct from Shanghae and Canton, 
two fresh lots of the ^Cochin Chinas' and 'Shanghaes,' 
from which, (with the stock I have now reserved,) I shall breed 
another year. The Fowls above alluded to were ordered in 
November and December, (a year ago,) and I hope to be in 
receipt of a fine lot, now, in a few days." 



WHITE SHANGHAE FOWL. 

There is a variety of Shanghaes of the above name. They 
are entirely white, legs usually feathered, and differ in no ma- 
terial respect from the red, yellow, and dominique, except in 
colour. It has been said that they rarely attain to the size of 
the other varieties. Their legs are yellowish, or reddish-yel- 
low, and sometimes of flesh-colour. I understand Mr. Giles, 
of Providence, K. I., to prefer them to all others. Their Eggs 
are of a nankeen or dull-yellow colour, blunt at both ends. The 
following communication on White Shanghaes, together with ori- 
ginal drawings, from which the opposite portraits were made, 
were obligingly furnished by Dr. Eben Wight, of Boston. He 
keeps his Fowls, of which he has several choice breeds, on his 
farm, at Dedham, Mass. He says : 



140 VARIETIES OP THE 

Among the many varieties of the Grallus race which have 
been introduced into the New England States from China, 
there is no variety which possesses so many good qualities as 
the White Shanghaes. 

The White Shanghaes are larger and more quiet than other 
varieties. The flesh of these Fowls is much superior, not 
sinewy or " stringy," as is the case with the flesh of most of the 
other Shanghaes. The Eggs are larger, and these Hens are 
more prolific than those of other colours. 

In their habits they are more quiet, and less inclined to 
ramble. These habits render the Hens invaluable for incuba- 
tors and nurses, and the mildness of their disposition makes 
them excellent foster-mothers, as they never injure the Chicks 
belonging to other Hens. I am induced to speak more fully 
of these characteristics, from the many vexatious losses I have 
suffered in the. experiments I have tried. 

I have imported different breeds of Fowls from Europe and 
elsewhere, and have received from many friends specimens of 
choice Fowls, and my endeavours to propagate them have been 
frustrated by the rambling or quarrelsome disposition of the 
Hens which I have been obliged to use for incubators and 
nurses. I have lost, oftentimes, by quarrelsomeness of the 
Hens, their entire broods; for instance, the Grame Hens are 
constant sitters and careful nurses to their own Chickens, but 
are exceedingly cruel to those of other Hens. The moment 
one of their Chickens is injured, a fight is commenced, and the 
Chickens, alarmed at the turmoil, crowding around their dams, 
are many of them killed, and the victorious Hen, after her 
opponent has retreated, will attack every Chick within her 
reach, and oftentimes, in her desire for revenge, mistaking her 
owns Chicks as belonging to her antagonist, destroys them. In 
the mean time the vanquished will destroy every stranger's 
Chick that comes within her reach. 

A Hen of active and energetic disposition confined in a coop, 



SHANGHAE FOWL, 141 

will soon reduce her brood by the blows given in scratching. 
The Chicks are knocked right and left, and those few which 
may survive the confinement are destroyed by dew and rain, 
lost in the grass, or, becoming tired, are left by their dam, 
who, in the exuberance of her delight at her escape from 
confinement, forgetting that her Chicks are not as strong as she 
is, goes on her way rejoicing, till, finding a fat worm or grub, 
she seizes it, and while seeking for her little ones, her attention 
is attracted by some fat grass-hopper, and away she darts in 
pursuit. Becoming somewhat fatigued herself, she calls her 
Chicks to be brooded, and finding herself alone, she is alarmed, 
and rushes to find her Chickens, and by her loud cries drown- 
ing the feeble chirpings of her little ones, she finally returns to 
her coop alone. It would have been better to have eaten the 
Eggs than to have trusted them to such a Hen. Would it 
not ? I have many a time thought so. 

Having, as I before stated, met with many vexatious losses, 
I, as you must readily conceive, do most highly prize the 
White Shanghae Fowls for their quiet dispositions. These 
Fowls are not sluggish or stupid ; on the contrary, they are in- 
telligent and confiding. To persons who have the " everlasting 
layers,'' the Black Spanish, for instance, — a breed that never 
shows the slightest desire to incubate, — the White Shanghaes 
are invaluable for the purpose of rearing Chickens. 

The Fowls of which the artist made the drawing from 
which the portraits are engraved, were imported from Shang- 
hae, and were there purchased as a pure race, and were war- 
ranted as such. I received them directly from the ship, 
and as evidence of the purity of blood, I mention that every 
Egg that has been laid has incubated, and every Chick that 
has been hatched, has been uniformly white, and there has not 
been the slightest variation in form or plumage. 

These Fowls will rank among the largest coming from China, 
and, as a proof that they thrive well in this climate, I will in- 



142 VARIETIES OF SHANGHAE FOWL. 

stance that one of the progeny, a Cock, not yet eight months 
old, being one of the first brood hatched, weighs fully eight 
pounds, and the Pullets are proportionably large. They are 
broad on the back and breast, with a body well rounded up ; 
the plumage white, with a downy softness — in this respect 
much like the feathering of the Bremen Goose; the tail 
feathers short and full; the head small, surmounted by a 
small, single, serrated comb ; wattles long and wide, overlay- 
ing the cheek-piece, which is also large and extending back on 
the neck ; the legs are of a yellow hue, approaching a flesh- 
colour, and feathered to the ends of the toes. 

Eben Wight. 

Dedhanif Mass., December 5th, 1850. 



143 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE COCHIN CHINA FOWIi. 

As there occurs in this chapter of Mr. Dixon's book, several 
lists giving the weight of different kinds of Fowls, and as Mr. 
J. J. Nolan, of Dublin, seems to regard the weights thus given 
as ridiculously small for i&rst-class birds, I beg to offer a few 
remarks on the subject. When the weight of a Fowl is men- 
tioned, I at once inquire the age, as much depends on that. I 
had a Pullet once, a mixture of Malay, Cochin China, and 
perhaps Shanghae, that, when she came to her first laying, 
being then about seven or eight months old, weighed exactly 
nine and a quarter pounds ; when She came to her laying the 
next season, being then about one year older, she weighed a 
fraction over eleven pounds ; and when she began to lay the 
third season, she weighed thirteen and a quarter pounds. 
She then passed out of my hands, but I heard during the sum- 
mer, from the gentleman who now owns her, that, on coming 
to her laying on the fourth season, being then between three 
and four years old, she weighed thirteen and a half pounds. 
Another remark I would offer in this connexion : it is important, 
in estimating the value and size of a Fowl, on having the weight 
stated, to know not only the condition of the Fowl, and the age, 
but also the season of the year. I have found both Cocks and 
Hens to be at their maximum weight in February : they are 
then recruited after moulting ; the Hens are about beginning 



144 THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 

to lay, and the Cocks are not reduced, as they are at the close 
of the breeding season. The thirteen and a half pounds Hen 
just mentioned, was reduced in her third moult from thirteen 
and a quarter pounds to eight pounds ten ounces I Others, of 
course, are proportionately reduced by the same cause. 

Very little is known of the origin of the Cochin China Fowl, 
further than that some gentleman, three or four years ago, 
presented a few to the Queen of England, who subsequently 
had them bred at Windsor Park. In order to promote their 
propagation, her Majesty made presents of them occasionally 
to such persons as she supposed likely to appreciate them. 
They differ very little in their qualities, habits, and general 
appearance from our Shanghaes, to which they are undoubtedly 
nearly related. The Egg is nearly the same size, shape, and 
colour ; both have an equal development of comb and wattles, 
the Cochins slightly differing from the Shanghaes, chiefly in 
being somewhat deeper and fuller in the breast, not quite so 
deep in the quarter, and being usually smooth-legged, while 
the Shanghaes, generally, are more or less heavily feathered. 
The plumage is much the same in both cases, nor have I dis- 
covered any difference in the crow, it being in both equally 
sonorous and prolonged, differing considerably from that of the 
great Malay. Mr. Nolan says " that full-grown Cocks, from 
one and a half to two years old, average a weight of from ten 
to twelve pounds, the Hens from eight to nine pounds. The 
male bird stands about two feet high ; the female about twenty- 
two inches The Cock's comb is usually single, serrated, 

and erect, of a brilliant scarlet, but not always single ; I have 
had both single and double combs in the same clutch 3 the 
wattles are large j they are quite free from top-knots ; the 
hackles on the neck and hips, yellowish-brown ; the tail black, 
with metallic lustre, and, when fully furnished, presents the 
usual cock's plume ; the legs vary from a flesh-colour to an 
orange-yellow, ajad are not so long as in the Malay ; the Eggs 



THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 145 

are generally buff-coloured, of large size, and blunt at the ends ; 
the Chickens progress rapidly in size, but feather slowly." 

E. R. Cope, Esq., of this city, and myself imported a few 
Fowls from London last summer; the three Cochin Chinaa 
whose portraits precede this chapter, were of the number, and 
were procured of the Messrs. Baker, of Chelsea, and are now 
in the possession of Mr. Cope, who has had a good opportunity 
for becoming acquainted with their habits and qualities. His 
estimate of them is expressed in the preceding chapter, in 
connection with the Shanghaes. 



18 



146 THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 

COCHIN CHINA FOWL.— BXJRNHAM'S IMPORTATION. 

In reply to a request of the Editor, Geo. P, Burnham, Esq., 
of Boston, Mass., communicated the following, in reference to 
his two importations of Cochin China Fowls, introduced into 
this country in January and February, 1850. In a letter 
dated December 1st, 1850, he writes : — 

It affords me pleasure to give you a brief account of my 
Cochin China birds, and, in accordance with your desire, I 
would state that I have given them a thorough experimental 
trial during the past year, and can ^' speak by the card," from 
actual knowledge of the habits and qualities of those I have 
imported and bred. 

You are already aware that I obtained two lots of these 
Fowls early in the present year — one batch, of six, from J. J. 
Nolan, of Dublin, and the other six direct, by ship, from Can- 
ton. All the imported male birds are now dead; three of 
them were killed by fighting, and the fourth died suddenly, (in 
my absence from home,) from some unknown cause. Of the 
original Hens, I have but three remaining — one of Nolan's, and 
two of the others. Of the young stock, however, I have re- 
served twenty-five specimens — say, eighteen Pullets and six or 
seven Cocks, (Stags,) which promise finely for another season. 

For all the purposes of a really good Domestic Fowl — 
whether I speak of productiveness, easy keeping, laying qua- 
lities, size, disposition, beauty of form and plumage, or hardi- 
ness, (in this climate,) after a careful comparative trial, I deem 
the Cochin Chinas the best. This is saying much in their fa- 
vour, I know ; but you ask my real opinion, and I give it ho- 
nestly. To my fancy, they have no equals among the varieties 
now known in America, 

In the multiplying of all kinds of stock, it is admitted that 
there are exceptions, or rather a choice, among the progeny 



THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 147 

produced. I have found this the case with my Cochin China 
Fowls, and I have selected my birds for future breeding, ac- 
cordingly. One of the Nolan Cocks showed a slight germ of 
feathering upon the legs ; so with one of the Canton Hens. 
A few of the Chicks were similarly marked, but this feature 
does not appear to any extent. I hreed from the smooth- 
legged Fowls exclusively.* 

My object in importing these birds was to obtain, if possible, 
the best to be had, all things considered; but I look upon 
fine flesh, and close-grained, juicy meat, as being of greater 
consequence than mere size, beauty, or prolific qualities. 
The Cochin Chinas are not so large, usually, as the Chittagong, 
for instance ; but my experience leads me to prefer the former; 
and I have tried both varieties — side by side — to arrive at 
this conclusion. 

My two best Cochin China Hens have this year laid — from 
the middle of February to about the first of September — 
almost constantly. In the six and a half months, they laid 
over one hundred and sixty Eggs, each. Since the middle 
of October, they have again commenced laying, and have done 
as well. The Pullets out of this stock have laid at four and a 
half to five months old, invariably. I breed both importations 
together, now, and they do equally well, I find. 

The old Fowls have weighed, when in their best condition — 
Hens, eight, eight and a quarter, and eight and a half pounds ; 
the Cocks, from ten to eleven and a quarter pounds, each. 
This is heavy enough to answer my wishes or expectations. 



* If my friend B. rejects all that are more or less feathered on the 
legs, he will, in time, reduce the size of his fowls, and vice versa. 
See a pure Shanghae stag I raised last summer, portrayed on a pre- 
ceding page — his legs are as smooth as an icicle. See also E. R. 
Cope's Cochins, moderately feathered — also Mr. Giles's stock, all 
equally pure feathered also. — Ed. 



148 THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 

Though at times they have all inclined to do so, I have never 
set but one of the imported Hens ; she proved an excellent 
mother, and reared eleven out of thirteen of her Chicks. I 
think them too clumsy, however, as sitters, and should avoid 
it, if practicable. 

My Cochin China Fowls have been much admired, and this 
stock (old and young) has taken the Jlrst premiums at all the 
Fairs or Exhibitions in Massachusetts, where they have yet 
been shown. This is some evidence of their excellence, in 
view of the generally acknowledged fact, that there are some 
very fine fowls here, out of other importations from Shang- 
hae and Canton. I have found the young birds, latterly, very 
hardy — though at first I lost a goodly number from breeding 
too early. 

The prevailing colour of my birds is yellow, or yellowish- 
brown Pullets — and yellow and red, or yellow, red and brown 
Cocks. They have never deviated from this range of colour, 
except in two or three broods out of the dark Canton Cock — 
all of which are now extinct. The Chicks come even in size 
and plumage ; and down to the third generation, they have 
bred exactly the same : this is a very satisfactory result, in 
my estimation. I have never yet seen a black, a grey, a white, 
or a speckled Chick, from this stock ! A very few specimens 
have shown a dark leg; but, with the epicure, this is desirable, 
and I do not discard these birds on that account — though my 
own taste favours the yellow limb. 

I am more and more confirmed in my opinion that the 
^' Cochin Chinas" and '' Shanghaes" originate from the same 
primitive stock. The difference between the two varieties is 
distinct, but the general characteristics, (so far as my experi- 
ence goes,) are similar. The Cochins are longer legged, 
longer necked, and longer bodied, generally ; they should be 
emooth-legged, and are usually a heavier Fowl at the same 
age. I think the pure Shanghae tribe are uniformly heavily 




MR. GEO. P. BURNHAM'S ROYAL COCHIN CHINA FOWLS. 



THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 149 

feathered upon the leg ; and I would breed none others, for 
Skanghaes. As to the comparative laying qualities of these 
two, I have found but little difference among the best spe- 
cimens ; either are excellent layers, and both breeds have now 
their champions among our New England fanciers. For 
one, /prefer the Cochin Chinas to any fowl I have ever yet 
met with. 

I have sent samples of my Cochin China stock to South 
Carolina, Pennsylvania, Greorgia, Louisiana, Ohio, Michigan, 
Maine, and New York ; and, in every instance, they have more 
than fulfilled the anticipations of purchasers. Other fanciers 
prefer other varieties : I have bred them all, more or less, but 
I am content with these ; and if the young stock prove as 
good as the old Fowls have, I think it will be difficult to find 
any variety to excel them. 

I send you portraits of two groups. The first is a pair of 
the " Royals,'^ (so called to distinguish them from others,) 
and were drawn from life, by S. E. Brown, of Boston. The 
other group is a trio of this year's birds, drawn also from life, 
by F. A. Durivage, from the stock I am now breeding. I 
think they will compare favourably with the best specimens of 
Domestic birds in our country, and I assure you the portraits 
are very truthful. With my best wishes for the success of 
your contemplated work on Poultry, and the suggestion that 
you can use this hastily prepared account in such way as may 
be agreeable to you, I am, 

Very truly, yours, 

GrEO. p. BURNHAM. 

Melrose, Mass., 1850. 

At the Exhibition of Poultry in Boston, in October, 1850, 
the Committee awarded to Greorge P. Burnham the first pre 
miums for Fowls and Chickens. The prize birds were the 
" Eo^al Cochin Chinas'^ and their progeny, which have been 

13* 



150 THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 

bred with care, from his imported stock; and which were 
generally acknowledged at the head of the list of specimens. 
At this show, Mr. Burnham declined an offer of $120 for his 
twelve premium Cochin China Chickens, and, subsequently, 
120 for the choice of Pullets. 

The committee of this Exhibition, in their published Report, 
state, that ^Hhe specimens displayed on this occasion, em- 
braced almost every known variety of the best Domestic 
Fowls ; and the number of samples of Aquatic, Ornamental, 
and Cage birds was very generous. The improvement made 
in breeding, during the past twelvemonth, was very apparent 
in the character of a large proportion of the fine gallinaceous 
Fowls exhibited — these being, for the most part, from late im- 
ported stocks, in many cases very carefully bred.'' 

"The magnificent samples of Cochin China Fowls, con- 
tributed by Gr. P. Burnham, were the theme of much com- 
ment and deserved praise. These birds include his imported 
Fowls and their progeny — of which he exhibited nineteen 
splendid specimens. To this stock, the Committee unani- 
mously awarded the first premiums for Fowls and Chickens ; 
and finer samples of Domestic birds will rarely be found in 
this country. They are bred from the Queen's variety, obtained 
by Mr. Burnham last winter, at heavy cost, and are unques- 
tionably, at this time, the finest thorough-bred Cochin Chinas 
in America.'' 

I have said that the family of Shanghaes and that of the Co- 
chin Chinas are very nearly allied. Under this impression, I 
wrote a twelve month ago to the Rev. Mr. Dixon, giving him a 
close description of two varieties of Shanghaes which I knew 
to be pure — at least, I was certain they came from Shanghae ; 
the varieties differing only in the one being about fifteen or 
sixteen pounds per pair, and being comparatively smooth- 
legged, and the other running from seventeen to twenty pounds 
per pair, and being well feathered on the legs in general, though 



THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 151 

not invariably. In answer to my letter, he says, " In reply to 
yours of the 28th ult., you may take it for granted that the 
stories respecting the Cochin China Fowls, that they have a 
black horse-shoe mark across the breast, that the feathers of 
the back of the neck are reversed, that the last joint of the 
wing is contrived so as to be folded up, etc. etc., are apocryphal. 
I have little doubt that your first named variety, (the variety 
weighing from fifteen to sixteen pounds per pair,) ^almost 
smooth-legged, (the Cock some shade of yellow or red, the Hen 
some shade of bay,') are the same as the Queen's Cochin 
Chinas, especially if the Cocks have a large, single, upright, 
deeply indented comb, (which they have.) It is probable that 
both your first varieties have been imported into this country, 
and been crossed with each other, so causing a little difficulty 
about their distinctiveness." — He says, in the same letter, 
"it is impossible to learn the native place of the Queen's 
Fowls." 

Of the smaller of the two varieties, which Mr. Dixon thinks 
are identical with the Queen's Fowl, Mr. C. S. Sampson, of 
Boston, got a beautiful pair of me, last spring, for which, I under- 
stood him to say, he was offered twenty -five dollars, a few days 
after he received them. The Cock weighed about nine pounds, 
perhaps a little more, and the Pullet nearly six pounds. 
They were the most perfect in model of any bird of the kind 
I had ever, seen. Of the larger variety, Mr. Devereux of Bos- 
ton, has a pair : the Cock is a noble fellow, indeed. Mr. H. 
Lawrence, of Mobile, also obtained some of me, with which he 
expressed himself as well pleased. So also Mr. Taggart, of 
Northumberland, Pa., ; Mr. Hugh Wilson, of South Carolina ; 
Mr. Evans, of Baltimore ; Mr. Knorr, of West Philadelphia ; 
Rev. Mr. Groddard, and Messrs. Remington, and E. R. Cope, of 
Philadelphia ] besides many others whose names I cannot now 
recall ; and all of whom, so far as I know, are perfectly batis- 
fied with them. 



152 THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 

Of this SO much and deservedly lauded Fowl, Mr. Dixon 
says : — 

Whether the breed now under consideration did really 
come from Cochin China or not, is probably known only to the 
party who imported them, if to him. But they certainly have 
been cultivated in this country previously to their recent intro- 
duction to general notice as the most conspicuous ornaments of 
the Eoyal poultry-yard. A gentleman (W. S.) living in Mon- 
mouthshire, informs me that, nearly thirty years ago, a friend 
sent him a Cock and Hen of the "true Java breed." The 
Cock was so fine, large, and handsome, that he was immedi- 
ately made " Cock of the walk." The present stock on that 
farm, which I have seen, are entirely his descendants, and are 
true Cochin China Fowls; so that, in this case, "Java" and 
" Cochin China" are. synonymous. The first parents of this 
lot came direct from India. But from whatever Oriental re- 
gion derived, it is a most valuable variety, and the only fear 
is that statements of its merits have been set forth so highly 
exaggerated, that they must lead to disappointment, and cause 
the breed to be as much undeservedly underrated, as it had 
been before foolishly extolled. 

The size and weight ascribed to them are enormous. To 
give an idea of their height and magnitude, they have been 
styled the Ostrich Fowl. It is an old, but very bad system of 
giving names, to affix that of some other creature, indicating 
certain supposed qualities ; for such titles are apt to induce no- 
tions of relationship, or hybridity, which are not easily dis- 
lodged from the minds of many people. The Cochin China 
Fowls have been averred, in the Agi'icultural Gazette, (^Sept. 30, 
1848 J to weigh, the male birds from twelve to fifteen pounds, 
the Hens from nine to ten pounds. They certainly must be 
very fine indeed : for the weights specified are those of respect- 
able Turkeys, not of Fowls. My own Cochin China Fowls, 
obtained from the Messrs. Baker, now about eighteen month3 



THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 153 

old, weighed, the Cock six pounds five ounces, the Hen four 
pounds six ounces. Some allowance must be made for the 
circumstance that both were moulting, and that the Hen had 
laid fairly during the season, and had not yet (Oct. 4) relin- 
quished the charge of her second brood of Chickens. She 
laid exactly three dozen Eggs in the spring, and then sat. Af- 
ter rearing her Chicks admirably, she again laid a smaller num- 
ber of Eggs, and sat. The best Cockerel and Pullet of the 
brood hatched April 5th, and which had only ordinary care 
and feeding bestowed upon them, weighed, on Oct. 4, five 
pounds eight ounces, and three pounds and thirteen ounces, re- 
spectively. 

The reader will be better able to judge what weights Fowls 
may be reasonably expected to attain, after the inspection of 
the following lists of the live weights of various Poultry, with 
which I have been obligingly favoured. But as the birds were 
generally out of condition, in consequence of their being 
mostly at that time on the moult, and also from the previous 
wet season, the weights are less than they would be under more 
favourable circumstances. 

One list (H. II.) gives — 

LBS. oz. 

** Black Polish Cock, three years old 6 3 

Ditto Hen ditto 3 4 

Ditto Pullet 2 6 

Golden Polish Cock 5 

Ditto Hen 3 8 

*- ' , 3 10 

2 8 

3 12 

gh) Hen 3 1 

_,.wvx.. xxuiitrescript Hen 4 10 

Globe-crested Polish Hen 3 9 

Silver Polish Hen 3 4 



154 THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 

LBS. OZ. 

Game Cock 4 10 

Ditto Hen 3 

Young Blue Dun Cock 3 6 

Blue Dun Hen 3 

Large Dun Hybrid Hen 3 8 

" Among these, the Malay Hen was moulting, and not up 
to her usual weight by nearly a pound. It will be observed 
that there is a great relative difference between the Pullets and 
the grown Hens of the Polish breed. All the Polish increase 
much in size and beauty the second moult." 

Another list kindly fui'nished by Mr. Alfred Whitaker, 
gives — 

LBS. OZ. 

♦* Pheasant-Malay Cocks, two years old, average each 7 

Ditto Cockerel, five months old 7 

Ditto Hen 5 1 

Ditto Pullet, seventeen montJis old 5 3 

Ditto (crossed with Dorking Hen), four years old 5 8 

Speckled Surrey Hen, two years old 5 12 

Spanish Hen 5 

Two Dorking Cocks, each 7 

Ditto Hens 6 8 

Ditto ditto 6 12 

Cock Turkey, twa years and a half old 17 12 

Hen dittto, one year and a half old 10 

Ditto ditto 9 9 

Musk Drake (moulting) 9 12 

'^ The Dorkings belong to a neighbour, and are ve^y Czc 
ones. The Hens, it will be seen, approach nearer to the weight 
of the Cocks than is the case with the Pheasant-Malays. The 
Spanish Hen is about to moult, and is rather under weight." 

Our own Poultry-yard furnishes these : — 



THE C c n r N c ir I N A F O V/ L. 155 

LBS. OZ. 

Turkey Cock, sixteen months old 10 

Ditto Hen, three or four yearf* old 8 

White China Gander, six years old 12 Vi 

White China Goose 11 l'{ 

Common China Goose, Cynoides, six years old 10 10 

Cocliin China Cock, about sixteen months old, moulting 6 5 

Ditto lien ditto ditto 4 G 

Malay Cock ditto ditto 6 14 

Ditto Hen ditto ditto 4 8 

Pheasant Malay Cock 5 7 

Ditto Malay Hen, moulting 8 8 

Game Cockerel, about five months old 4 2 

Golden Hamburgh Cockerel, just arrived from a long 

journey, about five months old 3 8 

Ditto Pullet ditto ditto 2 4 

Cochin China Cockerel, six months old 4 14 

Another ditto 4 13J 

Silver Hamburgh Cockerel, after travelling, about 

five months old 3 1 

Ditto Pullet ditto ditto 2 8 

Black Polish Hen moulting 3 

Golden Hamburgh, ditto 2 8 

Andalusian Cockerel, four months old 3 8 

Ditto Pullet ditto 2 OJ 

Black Spanish Cockerel ditto 2 11 

Ditto Pullet ditto 2 11 

Silver Polish Cockerel, four months and a half old 2 14 J 

Golden Poland Pullet, about five months old 2 8 

White-crested Golden Poland Pullet, ditto 2 3 

It will appear from the foregoing, that for a Cock, of any 
breed, to reach seven and a half poundg, even live weight, he 
must be an unusually fine bird j but this has to be doubled 
before we can rival the Cochin China specimens above men- 
tioned. I have never yet seen Cocks and Hens weighing fif- 
teen pounds and ten pounds, respectively : those most nearly 
approaching these weights have been Malays, not Cochin Chi- 
nas—ancient and venerable birds, looking old enough and tough 



156 THE COCHIN CHINA TOWL. 

enough to have performed the migration from India on foot. 
It has also been incorrectly asserted that " the disposition of 
the feathers on the back of the Cock's neck is reversed, these 
being turned up"\vards ; the wing is jointed, so that the poste- 
rior half can, at pleasure, be doubled up, and brought forward 
between the anterior half and the body :" the only foundation 
for which absurdity is, that, in some of the half-grown Cocke- 
rels, certain feathers, the wing-coverts, curl forwards ; but the 
curling disappears with the complete growth of the plumage.* 
But the long bow is stretched even yet a little further : '^ they 
sometimes lay two, and even three Eggs a day, and that within 
a few seconds of each other." No doubt of it ; however phy- 
siologically improbable the performance of such a feat may be. 
And an American newspaper kindly informs us how other 
Hens may be taught to follow so good an example. " A cute 
Yankee has invented a nest, in the bottom of which there is a 
kind of trap-door, through which the Egg, when laid, imme- 
diately drops 3 and the Hen, looking round, and perceiving 



* Mr. Bissell further explains the mystery : "I had a Cockerel that 
■was unusually slow in getting his feathers, and, as maybe expected, 
Avas very much pinched with the cold ; he would frequently squat 
down upon the straw in a shed, to rest himself, and perhaps for 
warmth also (which is a very usual thing for them to do) ; and in 
that position I have frequently seen him, in the effort to keep him- 
self warm with the few flight-feathers that he already had, turn them 
under his wing and against his body, which I have no doubt has 
given rise to misrepresentation. I have carefully examined him, and 
can testify that the conformation of his wings is the same as in all 
other Fowls, and now he is older and better feathered, he never 
places tlie feathers of his wing in the position I have now described. 

*< I find among my Cochins some feather-legged specimens ; and 
others that I have seen, which came from Windsor direct, have some 
of them the same appendages ; and I believe them to be quite pure 
notwithstanding." 



THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 157 

none, soon lays another I" Natural History has a hard strug- 
gle to come at correct conclusions in this department of orni- 
thology. 

The Cochin China Cock has a large, upright, single, deeply- 
indented comb, very much resembling that of the Black 
Spanish, and, when in high condition, of quite as brilliant a 
scarlet ; like him also, ho has a very large white ear-lobe on 
each check.* The wattles are largo, wide, and pendent. The 
legs are of a pale flesh-colour : some specimens have them 
yellow, which is objectionable. The feathers on the breast 
and sides are of a bright chcsnut-brown, large and well-defined, 
giving a scaly or imbricated appearance to those parts. Tlie 
hackle of the neck is of a light yellowish brown ; the lower 
feathers being tipped with dark brown, so as to give a spotted 
appearance to the neck. The tail feathers are black, and 
darkly iridescent; back, scarlet-orange; back-hackle, yellow- 
orange. It is, in short, altogether a flame-coloured bird. Both 
sexes are lower in the leg than either the Black Spanish or 
the Malay. 

The Hen approaches in her build more nearly to the Dork- 
ing than any other, except that the tail is very small and pro- 
portionately depressed : it is smaller, and more horizontal, I 
think, than in any other Fowl. Her comb is moderate-sized, 
almost small; she has also a small white ear-lobe. Her 
colouring is flat, being composed of various shades of very 
light brown, with light yellow on the neck. Her appearance 
is quiet, and only attracts attention by its extreme neatness, 
cleanness, and compactness. My male bird has two claws on 



* *< I have seen a great many Cochin Fowl, and have observed 
that but few of them had white ear-lobes ; I therefore conclude that 
it is not an indispensible, if even a required qualification." J". 
Biaaell. — It is, however, to be preferred, for beauty at least, if not as 
a mark of pure blood. 

14 



158 THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 

the toe of one foot — a peculiarity which is inherited by some 
of the chickens. 

The Eggs average about 2 oz. each. They are smooth, of 
an ovalj nearly equally rounded at each end, and of a rich 
buff colour, nearly resembling those of the Silver Pheasant. 
The new-hatched Chicks appear very large in proportion to the 
size of the Eggs. They have light flesh-coloured bill, feet, and 
legs, and are thickly covered with down, of the hue vulgarly 
called " carrotty." They are not less thrifty than other chick- 
ens, and feather somewhat more uniformly than either Black 
Spanish or Malay. Nevertheless, it is most desirable to hatch 
these, as well as other large-growing sorts, as early in the spring 
as possible; even so soon as the end of February. And it 
deserves consideration, whether those breeders are not the 
wisest, who do not allow their Hens to hatch chickens after 
midsummer. A peculiarity in the Cockerels is, that they do 
not show even the rudiments of their tail feathers till they are 
nearly full grown. They increase so rapidly in other direc- 
tions, that there is no material to spare for the production of 
these decorative appendages. A gentleman, to whom I sent a 
pair, wrote word that one of the Fowls had had the misfortune 
to lose his tail on the journey. An Egg hatched at a distance 
was said to have produced something more like an Eaglet than 
a Chicken. The Pullets are less backward in shooting their 
tails ; and this distinction alone is sufficient to denote the re- 
spective sexes at a very early age. The Cockerel is later than 
others in commencing to crow. 

The merits of this breed are such, that it may safely be 
recommended to persons residing in the country. For the 
inhabitants of towns it is less desirable, as the light tone of its 
plumage would show every mark of dirt or defilement, and 
also the readiness with which they sit would be an inconve- 
nience, rather than not, in families with whom everlasting layers 
are most in requisition. At present, they are too expensive to 



THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 159 

have had their edible qualities much tested. Most persons 
would prefer gratifying a friend with the living, rather than 
their own palate with the dead birds. But they are equal or 
superior to any other Fowl for the table : their flesh is deli- 
cate, white, tender, and well-flavoured. 

The Cochin China Fowl are said to have been presented to 
her Majesty, Queen Victoria, from the East Indies, and, by 
her liberality, imparted to such persons in the country as were 
likely properly to appreciate them. It is delightful to see so 
good an example in communicating a valuable stock, and also 
in aiding Natural History by making no secret of the source 
whence it was derived, although, as we have seen, they are 
really no novelty. The shape and size of the Eggs of the 
Cochin China Fowl, their qualifications as layers and mothers, 
the frequency of the fifth toe among them, and their general 
build and carriage, point out their very near relationship to 
the Dorkings : they are, in truth, the Dorkings of India. In 
the west of England there has lately been introduced an extra- 
sized variety of Fowl called the American, (and really im- 
ported from America,) but derived from what original source 
we cannot yet trace. These, however, do not exhibit marks 
of much distinctness of race or purity of blood, except their 
vast bulk, but display traces of both the Malay and the Cochin 
China type, inclining in the best specimens to the latter, with 
a probable intermixture of Dorking or Spanish blood. Such 
birds, except during their early youth, would suit the purposes 
of Chinese cooks, with whom sinews and tendons form the 
great delicacies of the table, rather than of English artists, 
who prefer to exercise their skill on what will furnish a suffi- 
ciency of tender meat. Still, they suggest the idea that it may 
be found more profitable, in crossing for the larder, to cioss 
constantly two large breeds, than to go on with one pure 
breed ; exactly as, in raising a supply of sheep for the butcher, 
the first cross between the Leicester and the Southdown 



100 THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 

answers so well. So, we will quote the soug of Ilocato, and 
cbant over the poultiy yard, 

** Black spirits ami white, 
Eed spirits and grt\v, 
Slingle, mingle, luiugle, 
You that iniugle may." 

Another Chinese Cock, as the old naturalists would an- 
nounce it. Dr Bevan, of Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire, has 
favoured me with the following : — " I only commenced keep- 
ing Fowls last year, (1847,) when a hen, purchased for the pot, 
stole a nest in the field. Having heard of a particular breed, 
brought from China as a present to the late Sir Robert 
Yaughan, which were said to be capital layers, very much dis- 
posed to become fat, with the flesh delicately white, approach- 
iuii in flavour to that of ffame, I bessred the favour of a few 
Eggs, and was able to rear two Cocks and two Hens. When 
hatched, and for several weeks afterwards, they looked more 
like young Ducklings than young Chickens, and tbeir feathers 
were pushed forth so slowly that, even when a month old, 
there was very little appearance of wings, and none of t^ils, 
and it was another month before they were able to fly half a 
yard high. The two brothers continued very amicable till 
tiiey were six or seven months old ; at that age, the strongest 
began to tyrannize, so I gave him to a friend. The Hens 
began to lay when between five and six months old, and they 
have continued to lay almost daily ever since. The Eggs, at 
first, were very small, but have been slowly increasing, and 
at this time they weigh about an ounce and a quarter ; one 
Hen lays perfectly white Eggs, the others are cream-coloured, 
and both are of a dumpy oval shape. 2' he Hens sdll retain 
a sometchat pe^niliar appearmicej having stout I^gs and thighs, 
and being almost as broad as long. The tails continue short, 
not ?ud/ tJie usual length ; but the Cock, who is a very fine, 



THE COCHIN CHINA FOWL. 161 

handsome fellow, has but little peculiarity about him, only 
being, like the Hens, of smaller size than the Barn-door 
Fowls. They are remarkably tame, indeed, rather troublesome, 
depending, in part, perhaps, on the manner in which they 
have been brought up. They all seek the shelter of a building 
by night, and one of the Hens never roosts, but sits all night 
upon her nes^ From what I have said, you will infer that, as 
yet, I have not tasted the flesh of this variety, nor shall, of 
course, till next autumn ; but, as the other character I had of 
them is correct, I give credit for that also. There is another 
Chinese variety in the neighbourhood, the bones of which are 
said to be black. 

" I will endeavour to describe my China Cock. He is of 
not more than moderate size. His comb is single, erect, and 
finely serrated, his shawl-feathers of a brilliant gold-colour, 
reaching, when he stands up, nearly the length of his body, 
and joining, at that time, a few rows of feathers of the same 
colour, which extend to the tail, which is jet black, with the 
feathers finely curled and in moderate quantity ; his body is 
of a brilliant chestnut-colour, his thighs and breast black, but 
spangled with pale chestnut patches. The thighs of both sexes 
are remarkably full-feathered, which gives them a great ap- 
parent breadth.'' 

Another. " I lately saw a Chinese Cock, with a rose comb, 
and the plumage of the golden-spangled Hamburgh; his 
legs were yellow, or he might be taken for one of that breed." 
S. W. 

14* 



162 



CHAPTER YllL 

THE MALAY FOWL — SOMETIMES (THOUGH ERRONEOUSLY) 
CALLED CHITTAGONG. ( See Portraits of each.) 

This is a majestic bird, and is found on the Peninsula from 
•wliich it derives its name. Its weight, in genenil, exceeds 
that of the Cochin China, the male weighing, when full grown, 
from eleven to twelve, or even thirteen pounds, and the female 
from eight to ten pounds; — height, from twenty-six to twent}^- 
eight inches. They present no striking uniformity of plumage, 
being of all shades, from black to white ; the more common 
colour of the female is a light reddish-yellow, and I have ob- 
served a mere suspicion of dunnish-blue, especially in the tail. 
The Cock is fr-equently of a yellowish-red colour, with black in- 
termingled in the breast, thighs, and tail. He has a small, but 
thick comb, as seen in the portrait, generally inclined to one 
side : he should be snake-headed, and free from the slightest 
trace of top-knot ; the wattles should be extremely small, even 
in an old bird j the legs are not feathered, as in the case of the 
Shanghaes, but, like them and the Cochin Chinas, his tail is 
small compared with his size. In the female, there is scarcely 
any show of comb or wattles. Their legs are long and stout ; 
and their flesh is very well flavoured, when they have been pro- 
perly fattened; and their Eggs are so large and rich, that two 
of them are equal to three of those of our ordinary Fowls. 



BO >/; 



1. ^ 'w "•■ 



^1 /1 7, 

'1; 




THE MALAY FOWL. 163 

The Malay Cock, in his perfection, is a remarkably courageous 
and strong bird. His beak is remarkably thick, and he is a 
formidable antagonist when offended. His crow is loud, harsh, 
not prolonged, as in the case of the Cochin China, but broken 
off abruptly at the termination : this is quite characteristic of 
the bird. 

E. R. Cope, Esq., of this place, has some beautiful specimens 
of the Malay, which he imported direct from the Messrs. Baker, 
of Chelsea, England, who warrant them perfectly pure, and 
good specimens. Mr. Cope kindly furnished the account of 
them in a preceding chapter. 

Mr. Dixon, says this breed is in high repute with many 
writers, as a supposed connecting link between the wild and 
the tame races of Fowls. Indeed, something very like them 
is still to be found in the East; and it would be useful to 
know, as a certain test, whether the Kulm Cock be indocile, 
like the Pheasant, or tameable, like the Fowl. The Penny 
Cyclopaedia (article " Pheasant") gives the following description 
of the native Indian bird : — 

" The Gigantic Cocky the Kulm Goch of Europeans, (a wild 
breed,) often stands considerably more than two feet from the 
crown of the head to the ground. The comb extends back- 
wards in a line with the eyes ; it is thick, a little elevated, 
rounded upon the top, and has almost the appearance of having 
been cut off. The wattles of the under mandibles are com- 
paratively small, and the throat is bare. Pale golden-reddish 
hackles ornament the head, neck, and upper part of the back, 
and some of these spring before the bare part of the throat. 
Middle of the back and lesser wing-coverts deep chestnut, the 
webs of the feathers disunited; pale reddish-yellow, long 
drooping hackles cover the rump and base of the tail, which 
last is very ample, and entirely of a glossy green, of which 
colour are the wing-coverts ; the secondaries and quills are pale 
reddish-yellow on their outer webs. All the under parts deep 



164 THE MALAY FOWL. 

glossjblaclvisli-greeu, with high reflcetions : the deep ohestnut 
of the biise of the feathers appears oeoasioually, and gives a 
mottled and interrupted appearanee to those parts." (JanUne 
piineipally.) 

Here is a description of some Malay Fowl supplied by 
Messi's. Baker : 

Malay ChcJc. — Height twenty-seven inches and a half. 
Comb small, double, hanging over on one side in front, and ex- 
tended in a line backwards. Bill yellowish, feet and legs de- 
cided yellow J hackle greyish-yellow ; breast, belly, and thighs 
black; back and shoulders rich brown; wing-coverts iridescent 
black ; quill feathers the same, but having half of the outer 
web on one side of the quill mottled with white ; wattles almost 
absent ; tiul iridescent black ; stature lofty ; voice particularly 
sonorous, and somewhat hoarse. 

Milaj/ Hen. — Comb very small, but lace much covered with 
red skin. Bill, legs, and feet j-ellow ; head, neck, back, tiiil, 
and quills of a rich brown ; the lower parts and thighs of a 
lighter hue ; neck long ; stature and carriage lofty ; head small 
in proportion to the size of the bird. 

It may be suspected that Malays are undernited in impor- 
tance by Poultry-keepers, as much a^ they are overrated by na- 
turalists. The common prejudice condemns their flesh as 
coarse, stringy, oily, and ill-flavoured. But it is a question 
whether many of those who pronounce this unfavourable judg- 
ment have ever dined off so costly a dish as roast Malay Fowl. 
First-nite Malays are exceedingly dear in London. I have 
heard of as much as bl. being asked for a superior Cock; but, 
then, he was to be "as big as a Donkey." It is odd, too, that 
what is so faulty in an unmixed state, should be highly recom- 
mended as a first cross. The yellowness of their skin may be 
displeasing to the eye of a purchaser ; but many of the finest- 
flavoured Game Fowls have this quality, and both Phciisants 



THE MALAY FOWL. 165 

and Guinea Fowls, when plucked for the spit, are much moro 
uninviting in their appearance. It will be a pity if the Ma- 
lays go out of fashion altogether, and become lost to the 
country, like the Shackbags, in consequence of the introduction 
of the more bepraised, and, it must be confessed, much more 
generally useful. Cochin Chinas. The Poultry Shows, how- 
ever, in which their striking appearance is so valuable, promise 
again to bring them perhaps into undue favour. They are 
certainly a very distinct race of Fowls. 

The Malay Hen lays Eggs of a good size, and of a rich buflF 
or brown colour, which are much prized by the numerous epi- 
cures who believe that this hue indicates richness of flavour — 
a fact which has not yet been made sensible to my own palate. 
The Chicks are at first very strong, with yellow legs, and are 
thickly covered with light-brown down ; but, by the time they 
are one-third grown, the increase of their bodies has so far out- 
stripped that of their feathers, that they are half naked about 
the back and shoulders, and extremely susceptible of cold and 
wet. The grand secret of rearing them, is to have them 
hatched very early indeed, so that they may have got through 
this period of unclothed adolescence during the dry, sunny 
part of May and June, and reached jiearly their full stature 
before the midsummer rains descend. 

The disposition of Malay Hens is very variously described : 
doubtlessly with truth in the different cases. One set — ^^ long 
in the leg, creamy brown with darker necks, were very ill- 
tempered ; another individual, of a rich creamy brown and 
grey neck, and very broad on the back, was an invaluable sit- 
ter and mother. They are much used by some to hatch the 
eggs of Turkeys, a task for which they are well adapted in 
every respect but one, which is, that they will follow their na- 
tural instinct in turning off their Chicks at the usual time, in- 
stead of retaining charge of them as long as the mother Turkey 



16G THE MALAY FOWL. 

would. Goslings would suffer less from such untimely de- 
sertion." 

I cannot refrain from mentioning a singular habit that has 
been observed in some individuals of this breed: "A multi- 
tude of tacts has convinced mo how wonderful is the hereditary 
principle in the minds or instincts of animals ; but some facts 
have made me suspect that we sometimes put down to heredi- 
tariuess what is due to imitation. I will give an instance : a 
good observer and breeder told me he had noticed that an Eastern 
breed of Poultry, (Malay, I think,) imported by Lord Powis, 
though then reared during several generations in this country, 
always went to roost for a short time in mid-day," (_of course, 
instinctively, to avoid the noontide heats at home.) "• Hence 
(if the tact be true, and I rarely believe any thing without con- 
tirmation,) I concluded that this habit was probably hereditary ; 
but, mentioning this tact to a lady who had some Eastern breed, 
she said she believed she had noticed the same peculiarity, but 
with this addition, that some chickens reared under the East- 
ern Hen followed (she knew not for how long) the same habit ; 
if so, we clciu-ly see that it may be a merely handed-dowu prac- 
tice, and not hereditary. To test it, the Eastern eggs ought to 
have been hatched unt^r a common Hen; but my first in- 
formant is now dead. This point, though trifling, is really 
curious." — C. I). 

I certainly have noticed Hens of various breeds occasionally 
retiring to roost for a mid-day nap ; but never knew any make 
a common practice of it. Domestic Fowls have this peculiar 
whim : when they are compelled, by rain, snow, or severe 
frost, to tiike shelter during the day, they do not retire to their 
dormitory, the hen-house, where they sleep at night, but pre- 
fer some other building to which they can have access and use 
as a drawing-room, and from which they will adjourn to bed, 
when the proper time comes. 



THE MALAY F O W L. 167 

" I saw a lot of Black Malay IlenH in Ilungfjrford market, 
and with them a red Cock with a hhu;k brea«t and tail ; the 
quillH of hJH tail wore whit^j. I waH at firHt inclined U) think 
'that ihuy Iia^l a croBH of the Spaninh; but when I refx^i- 
lected to have »cen FowIb of exactly the same apj>earanc<i, 
though Komowhat Hmaller, in JJevon, 1 changed my opinion/' — 
J. >V. ^. 



168 



CHAPTER IX, 



THE PHEASANT- MALAY FOWL. 



This variety, together with some of the Hanibiirghs, may 
claim the sad pre-eminence of having given occasion to moi*e 
disputes than any bird of it« tribe, always excepting the Game 
Cock, It is highly valued by many farmers, not on account of 
its intrinsic merits, which are considerable, but because they 
believe it to be a cross between the Pheasant and the common 
Fowl, than which nothing can be more erroneous. The Pul- 
lets and Cockerels are excellent for the table, and, when brought 
to market, meet with a ready sale, less because they are really 
fine birds, than because the seller assures his customers, in 
perfect sincerity, that they are half-bred Pheasants; and the 
buyer readily pays his money down, thinking that he has got 
a nice Fowl, and a taste of Pheasant into the bargain — some- 
thing like the Fi^nchman, who was delighted at breakfast, on 
finding that he was eating a little chicken, when he had only 
paid for an egg. 

So gross an error in Natural History ought to be cleai-ed 
away, as a belief in it might cause disappointment to Poultry- 
fanciers ; and particularly since the able author of " British 
Husbandry" has given the weight of his authoi'ity to the no- 
tion. He speaks of the '' hybrid between the Hen and the 
Pheasant having succeeded ;" and adds : '^ Their flesh, how- 
ever, hi^ so much of the game-flavour of the Pheasant, coupled 



THK JM/ K A HA NT-. MALA Y FOWL. 100 

with the juicincHH of t\ni Kowl, an V> bo groatly prized by con- 
noiHHcrirH in goo'i oaiing; and thorofon; atf/;nipt,H arc (A'tan 
rrj?uJo t/> ])r<>]>'.ij/iiUi tiic breed by tfiOH'; who are careloHH of 
trouble and expenw^j.'' — Farming ff/r Lady'.it. 

To prevent thJH trouble and expenw? l>^iing thrown away, it 
Bhould be elearly known that the J'heaHant breed* of J'oultry- 
fancierH in no more a mule between the iJen and the J^heanant, 
than the Cochin China or Ostrich Fowl Ih a half-bred OHtricb, 
or than the 7>UHtard brer;rj of TurkeyH Hprang from a commix- 
ture with the great JiuHtard. J>r. i^atlj^xm ban an Owl-pigeon 
and a Turkey-pheaHant on the same principle of nomenclature. 
The really half-bred I^heaKant, which in indeed obtainable by 
trouble, experiHe, and, above all, by patience and perB^jverancc, 
in not unfrcfpjcnt in muwiumH and coUeetionH. Any offHpnng 
of thcHc mules is rare : ho that no brewl is originated ; only a 
set of isolated monsters. Mr. Yarrell describes and figiircs 
several other mules between the Pheanant and one or two galli- 
nfi/;eous birds nearly allied to it. 'J'hose between the common 
i^'owl and the I'heasant which I have seen, bore, in their out- 
line, great resemblance to the genus Nycthemerus, the Golden 
and Silver Jr'heasants : thus supporting the position ahsigned 
t/j those birds by Mr. Swainson, namely, between the Fowls and 
the Pheasants. And the great and varied talents of that gentle- 
man must claim respect from every student of Nature, even 
tliough they may not be complete converts U) his circular sys- 
tfim and quinary arrangement. But, in confirmation of hi« 
views, it may be urged that existence is not a clAain, a simple 
series, as some have dencribed it, but an infinite; net^work, ex- 
tending in all directions, developing its^Jf, not superficially, but 
cubically, like the spherical undulations of light that flow from 
every fixed star. Each animated being is a portion of this net- 
work ; and from each, as from a centre, may be traced affinities 

♦ See infra, the «ynonym« of the Hamburgh FowIb. 

15 



170 THE PHEASANT- MALAY FOWL. 

and relationships to all surrounding beings that are endued 
with life. 

The Nycthemerus and the mule Pheasant have tails more or 
less horizontal. The Hen of the Pheasant-Malay carries hers 
in a particular upright and hen-like manner; the Cock has 
the curved and flowiug feathers of the tail, and every other 
mark of true Gallism. The Pheasant-Malay Hen has semi-oval 
markings on the breast, and shining blue-black hackle on the 
neck mixed with dark brown, which do bear some distant re- 
semblance to the Plumage of a Cock Pheasant, and might give 
rise to the false notion of her origin; but a glance at the Cock 
bird shows how nearly he is related to the Game Fowl; a 
closer inspection shows the affinity of both to the ordinary 
Malays. 

^^ Pheasant Fowls,'' ^'The Pheasant Breed,'' are terms 
which ought to be at once discarded, as being either erroneous 
or unmeaning, or rather both. By these terms various people 
intend to indicate Grolden Hamburghs, Silver Hamburghs, Po- 
landers, and even Bantams,'*' besides the subject of the present 
section. An eminent London dealer being asked what breed 
of Poultry he would supply, if the '^ Pheasant Breed" were 
ordered, replied, that he did not know; for some gentlemen 
so called one sort, and some another. Indeed, the name is 
vernacularly applied to any thing that bears the most distant 
resemblance to a Pheasant. It has first to be shown that there 
is a Pheasant breed of Fowls ; every specimen so called,, that I 
have hitherto seen, being referable to some one of the varieties 
mentioned in these pages. 

To pass slightly over such a popular error would be wrong, 
because it involves the great question of the immutability of 
species. The result, then, of our inquiry is this; that hybrids 



* In Moubray's work, 8tli edition, a coloured engraving of Sea- 
bright's Spangled is entitled, "Bantam, or Pheasant Fowls." 



THE PIIEAS ANT-MALAY FOWL. 171 

between the Pheasant and the Fowl are, for the most part, 
absolutely sterile; that when they do breed, it is not with 
each other, but with the stock of one of their progenitors; 
and that the offspring of these cither fail, or assimilate to 
one or other original type. No half-bred family is perpe- 
tuated, no new breed created by human or volucrine agency. 

Some believers in the improvement effected by Pheasants 
in our Common Fowls put their trust entirely in the poHsihiiUy 
of the fact, not in any evidence of what has actually occurred. 
" One man, who had some of the birds near a wood, indeed 
assured me that the breed was easily reared, and that they 
grew more and more like Pheasants every clutch ; but I no- 
ticed he had Hens of other breeds going with his Pheasant- 
mules or hybrids, male and female, and he vxia not sujjlcientli/ 
intcllujent to he fully dej)ended on. Besides, though his Cock 
€hid some of the Hens were undoubtedly (?) true hybrids, yet, 
as he lived close by the wood-side, it is most probable that, as 
in the former instance, the Cock Pheasant of the wood usurped 
the attentions of the whole sisterhood, thus accounting for the 
broods growing more like Pheasants every generation. The 
most successful breeder of them admitted that, after many 
trials (of paired hybrids), he had ^^ never brought up but two 
to be a'most Hens,'' and that then they took the (meghrims) 
staggers and died." — (Correspondent of the Agricultural Ga- 
zette, July \st, 1848.^ Such naturalists as these have clearly 
got into a wood, and, are likely to ramble about therein so long a 
time, that it is hopeless to endeavour to extricate them. 

Others say, " Consult some intelligent gamekeeper, and you 
will alter your opinions.'' Well, we are anxious only for the 
truth, and are ready to be convinced by any proved facts that 
a gamekeeper can produce. Accordingly, we hp-e consulted 
M. Le Roi, gamekeeper to the King of France j not of the 
French, before the first revolution, when game was indeed pre- 
served, and country gentlemen, almost as much as kings, when 



172 THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL. 

they visited the country, really could keep poachers in awe. 
He informs us of his experience, thus : — " Man has tried to 
effect a violence with the Cock Pheasant, to make it breed 
with a foreign species ; and the experiments have in some de- 
gree succeeded, though they required great care and attention. 
A young Cock Pheasant was shut in a close place, where but 
a faint light glimmered through the roof : some young Pullets 
were selected, whose plumage resembled the most that of the 
Pheasant, and were put in a crib adjoining that of the Cock 
Pheasant, and separated from it only by a grate, of which the 
ribs were so close as to admit no more than the head and neck 
of these birds. The Cock Pheasant was thus accustomed to 
see these females, and even to live with them, because the food 
was thrown into the crib only. "When they had grown fa- 
miliar, both the Cock and Hens were fed on heating aliments ; 
and after they discovered an inclination to couple, the gratP 
which parts them was removed. It sometimes happened that 
the Cock Pheasant, faithful to nature, and indignant at the in- 
sult offered him, abused tJie Sens, and even hilled the first he 
met with ; hut if his rage did not subside, he was on the one 
hand mollified by touching his bill with a red-hot iron, and^ 
on the other, stimulated by the application of proper fomentob- 
tions." — Biiffon^s Natural History of Birds, vol. ii., p. 302. 
His note attached is, — " The Wild Pheasants never couple 
with the Hens which they meet ; not but they sometimes make 
advances, only the Hens will never permit them to proceed. 
I owe this, among many other observations, to M. Le Roi, 
Lieutenant des Chasses at Versailles.' ' A promising com- 
mencement of a new breed of Poultry ! 

But it might be objected that all this happened sixty or 
seventy year§ ago, and that the nature of Pheasants and Fowls 
has since been modified. We have therefore consulted another 
intelligent keeper, who knows as much about the subject as 
the best shot that ever handled a gun. On stating my opinion 



THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL. 17^ 

of the absurdity of the popular notions about the " Pheasant 
Fowls" to Mr. James Hunt, the experienced servant of the 
London Zoological Society, he replied, " You are quite right, 
sir ; those who think differently have only to look at that," 
pointing to a miserable, really half-bred Pheasant, that was 
then walking before us. 

Nor does the experience of Mr. Hunt differ much from that 
recorded by his superiors. " Birds produced between the 
Pheasant and Common Fowl are of frequent occurrence. The 
Zoological Society have possessed several, which were for a 
time kept together, but showed no signs of breeding ; they are 
considered, like other hybrids, to be unproductive among them- 
selves, all being half-bred; but when paired with the true 
Pheasant or the Fowl, the case is different. The Zoological 
Society has had exhibited at the evening meetings two in- 
stances of success in this sort of second cross. The first was 
in 1731 ; the second instance in 1836." — Yarrell, vol. ii., p. 
317. Two cases only, and those in the second cross, ascertained 
during all the time that the Society has had extraordinary means 
at command, are exceptions so rare as to confirm the rule that 
such mules are barren, and incapable of founding a family, and 
becoming the ancestors of a distinct race. And yet an evi- 
dently sincere writer declares, — " From what I have seen of 
the plumage of birds casually produced at the wood-side, (from 
crossing with Pheasants,) I believe a judicious and scientific 
selection would lead to the production of very fine varieties ; 
and that, among others, the dark Pheasant-plumaged breed, both 
of Bantams, and common poultry, would reward the patient 
inquirer." — Agricultural Gazette, June 10, 1848. Patience 
may sometimes be its own reward ; but it is a sad thing to get 
into a wood, if the German romancers are to be listened to. 

Those who still believe in the permanent combination of 
the Pheasant with the Fowl, rest their faith entirely on the 

^^pure half-bred" birds which they procure from the wood- 
is* 



174 THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL. 

sides to begin with. But, we may ask, how do they know 
that they are really such ? If they were only told by some 
man who lived by the wood-side, and reared them from one 
of his Hens kept there, that they were half-bred Pheasants, 
we must refuse to admit any such uncertain, hearsay evidence, 
as unworthy to have any weight in solving what is one of the 
most important problems (in its consequences) in Natural His- 
tory. The Hen from which birds that can be allowed to be 
half-bred Pheasants are obtained, must have been confined 
for some time previously with a Cock Pheasant, and utterly 
debarred from the slightest possibility of association with the 
Domestic Cock. In short, the evidence ought to be as clear 
and unmistakeable as would be required in a trial for murder, 
or in a claim before the House of Lords to a succession to a 
dukedom. When we have truly and actually got what we 
are sure is a half-bred Pheasant, specimens of which, though 
unfrequent, are by no means rare, it then remains to be seen 
what becomes of them. 

Mr. John Bailey favours me with one instance of their 
probable destiny. ^' Hybrids between Fowls and Pheasants 
are not at all uncommon, when such birds, tame-bred, are 
kept together in a pen. For instance, a tame-bred Cock 
Pheasant will breed with a game Hen, but I do not believe 
the stories of wild Pheasants visiting the ordinary inhabitants 
of farm-yards. I have had numbers of such miscalled Hy- 
brids brought to me, to prove by ocular demonstration their 
claim to unnatural origin ; but the first sight proved the re- 
verse ; they were simply Spangled Fowls. 

"I have had many Hybrids. They are of all colours, 
but, generally, the back and wings are chocolate -coloured ; 
the breast, hackle, and tail, black, and the legs dark. In car- 
riage they more resemble the Pheasant than the Fowl ; they 
are tame, sheepish-looking birds, having neither comb nor gill, 
and no distinctly-coloured circle round the eye. The tail- 



THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL. 17e5 

feathers are longer than those of a Fowl, although not shaped 
like a Pheasant's ; and the tail itself is carried more erect than 
a Pheasant's. 

" It has always been my impression, that the production of 
such a creature, however much coveted as a curiosity, will 
always be regretted, when its tame, stupid, listless air, and 
positive uselessness, is considered in comparison with the mag- 
nificence of the Pheasant, and the courage and beauty of the 
Fowl. I had one of them running with common Hens for 
two or three years. I had a basket nailed against the wall, 
for the Hens to lay in. There was a tree close to it. The 
unhappy Hybrid, as though aware of his anomalous position 
in the scale of creation, and anxious to redeem it in some way, 
patiently waited for the Hens to lay, and then began zealously 
to sit on the Eggs. This lasted for months; and his (should 
it not be ^ its' ?) grief was visible whenever the Egg was 
removed." 

The Pheasant-Malays are large, well-flavoured, good sitters, 
good layers, good mothers, and in many points an ornamental 
and desirable stock. Some hypercritical eyes might object to 
them as being a little too long in their make ; but they have 
a healthy look of not being over-bred, that would recommend 
them to those who rear for profit, as well as pleasure. The 
Eggs vary in size, some very large in summer, smooth but not 
polished, sometimes tinged with light-buff, balloon-shaped, and 
without the zone of irregularity. Six Eggs in December, 1847, 
weighed very nearly twelve ounces. The Chickens, when first 
hatched, are all very much alike ; yellow, with a black mark 
all down the back. The Cock has a black tail, with black on 
the neck and wings. 

I have been favoured with a communication from Mr. A. 
Whitaker, of Beckington, Somerset, whose observations on 
domesticated birds I know to be so accurate as to render him 
an authority. He says, " I do not feel quite certain as to the 



t!f$ THE PHEASANT- MA LAY FOWL. 

particular sort of bii*cls indicated under the title of the 
' Pheasant Breed/ I have seen so many and such diverse 
sorts called Pheasant Fowls, that I have long since ceased to 
attach any definite idea to the designation. I fully concur 
in all you say in contravention of the popular notion of the 
existence of a prolific Hybrid between the Fowl and the 
Pheasant. 

"I have for seven years had a breed of Fowls, the pro- 
genitors of which were sold to me in Hungerford market as 
'Pheasant-Malays.' The Cocks are a large-sized bird, of a 
dark-red colour, with a small comb ; but the beauty of the 
breed is with the Hens, which are of a Pheasant colour in all 
parts of the body, with a velvety black neck. The shape of 
both male and female is good. The neck is long and (as we 
should say of a horse) high-crested, giving them an appear- 
ance quite superior to other Fowl in that particular. The 
colour of the Hens varies from the warmth of the plumage 
of the Cock Pheasant, to the colder hue of the Hen Pheasant, 
but as I have always bred from the high-coloured birds, I now 
have the better colour generally predominating. The legs 
are white, and also the skin. They are excellent birds on the 
table, both as to quality, shape, and size. They have no re- 
semblance to the Malay, except that the Cocks are rather high 
on the legs, the Hens being the reverse. The combs of the 
Hens are very small. The Hens never have a foul feather, 
but I have never seen a Cock which does not show some small 
mark of white on one of his tail-feathers. You will observe 
in the Hens of the Pheasant-Malay that the two longest tail- 
feathers are somewhat curved, which, when the bird is full 
grown, and in full feather, materially improves the appear- 
ance. They do not arrive at their full size until the second 
season. They lay well, but late. Their Eggs are very small 
in proportion to the size of the birds. I should say that their 
weight was, on the average, above that of the Black Spanish, 



THE PIIEAS ANT-MALAY FOWL. 177 

while their Eggs are a third gmuller. Baker, of London and 
Chelsea, (one of the best fancy dealers,) told me that they 
were a breed from Calcutta. They are certainly tender, and 
are apt to die in moulting ; but the Hens, in my opinion, are 
unrivalled in beauty, while the Cock is a fine bird, though not 
BO uncommon in appearance, except to an experienced eye, 
which will detect peculiarity of growth. 

" If you do not know the Pheasant-Malays, (which is merely 
a market name,) I will send you with pleasure a Pullet and a 
late Cockerel. I am sorry that I cannot send an earlier Cock 
bird, as I apprehend that now sent will not attain average 
size. The plumage of the Pullet promises well. The Hens 
have scarcely any comb. The Cocks always have a comb ex- 
tending but a very little way backward, but standing up so 
high as always to fall a little over on one side. I have never 
seen any variation as to the combs or the colour of the neck 
and tail-feathers, either of males or females, which indicates 
them to be a real variety. The only variation I have observed 
is in the body-colour of the Hens, and this not in the mark- 
ing, but merely in the ground colour, which is sometimes paler 
and duller than is the case with the Pullet I send. I would 
most cheerfully enclose some Eggs, but I have none, as they 
very rarely lay in winter. The Eggs are quite small, but of 
excellent flavour, neither very white nor brown; the shape 
varies considerably. The Chicks are of a yellowish colour, 
with sometimes two brown stripes down the back and a few 
specks about the head, but more usually without either. They 
have, however, invariably the hinder part of the back of an 
intenser or browner yellow, almost amounting to a warm 
fawn-colour. I think that the Chicks should not be hatched 
before May." 

The birds thus kindly offered were thankfully accepted; 
and, after a railway journey of more than two hundred and 
fifty miles, stepped out of their hamper uncramped, uninjured, 



178 THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL. 

and undismayed by curious inspectors, and with evidently an 
appetite for breakfast. The Pullet was certainly a great 
beauty ; and I was pleased to find them of the same type as 
the " Pheasant Breed'' with which I had been previously 
acquainted. Their richness of colour, and increase of size, 
being the result of skilful selection and feeding for several 
generations. The colour of the legs being quite white, did not 
agree with the Norfolk specimens, but the several varieties of 
Game Fowl exhibit much greater differences among each other. 
However, I now quite believe that the Norfolk specimens I 
had seen, had a dash of the blood of that variety of Ham- 
burgh Fowls known as Copper Moss. This comparison of 
individuals, bred more than three hundred miles apart, 
establishes the existence of the Pheasant-Malays as a perma- 
nent variety of Fowls. The only discrepancy, which is more 
apparent than real, lies in the varying size of the Eggs; 
but I have seen so many changes in that respect in the same 
Hen, under altered circumstances, as to attach no importance 
to variation of size, unless shape and colour were also found 
to be different. 

The Cocks display considerable courage; the Hens are 
jealously affectionate towards their Chicks, bustling, and petu- 
lant, thus exhibiting in disposition an affinity to the Game 
breed. 

Mr. Whitaker adds : " My male birds have a very peculiar 
feathering on the neck — the neck feathers being very long 
and full, dark-red, and black at the tips, but the under part 
of a downy white. The consequence is an appearance of 
mixed dark-red and white about the neck, which is the more 
peculiar from its being so particularly at variance with the 
glossy black neck-feathering of the female. The feathering 
of the back and wings is rather scanty, and the tail is not very 
full. The bird has a good, erect carriage. 

" The Chickens hatched in June always succeed better than 



THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL. 179 

those thai are hatched earlier. The Chickens of this breed 
are very small at first, and but scantily supplied with down. 
As they begin to grow, they have a very naked appearance, 
from the slow development of their feathers, and this renders 
them very susceptible of cold. At six weeks old they are not 
above half the size of Dorkings of the same age, but after 
two months they grow very fast, and the Pullets feather well 
and show indications of their permanent colour. The Cocks 
are ragged in appearance until five months old, after which 
they get their permanent plumage, and grow fast. As a 
sort of profitable growth, I cannot recommend them, but 
the ornamental figure and colour of the Hens, I think, is 
beyond question. The flesh, at table, is extremely good and 
white; and they lay abundantly, though late. I have a 
strong suspicion, from various peculiarities, that they are of 
comparatively recent introduction into this country, from a 
much warmer climate. 

" I once attempted to describe to you an oval abortion : I 
have since found a second, in which the similarity was com- 
plete. The upper Egg, which was concealed within the other, 
below the unclosed orifice left at the egg-stalk, was conjested 
with blood in both cases, while the lower egg or yolk (there 
being two in each case within the shell) was quite natural. 
A fortnight after I found the latter abortion, I looked into 
the same nest, and saw there one of my Pheasant-Malay Pul- 
lets of last year. On looking closely at her, I saw she was 
dead; and on opening her, another of these abortions was 
seen, accompanied by general congestion of the ovarium and 
a vast quantity of internal fat, which I find these birds very 
much disposed to take on.^' 

It is a common opinion among country-people, that mis- 
shapen Eggs care caused by the Hens that lay them being too 
fat. It certainly does often happen that an over-fat Hen lays 
deformed Eggs, but I believe that the cause has been mis- 



ISO THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL. 

taken for the effect ; and that the non-production of the usual 
quantity of natural-sized Eggs, in consequence of some pecu- 
liar state of the egg-organs, compels the superabundant nou- 
rishment taken by the bird, to be deposited in the shape of 
fat, instead of being secreted in the form of Eggs. 




:^r V4^J< 



181 



CHAPTEE X. 

THE GUELDERLAND FOWL. 

This Fowl would seem to be quite an original one. There 
is still less development of comb than in the true Malay; the 
wattles, however, are more freely developed than in the latter. 

A gentleman of Boston, who has some jfine specimens in his 
possession, writes me, concerning them, as follows: ^'The 
Gruelderlands, about which you inquire, are a breed of Fowls 
introduced into this section by Captain John Devereux, a 
brother of the Mr. D. who visited you a few days since. This 
breed is of a jet-black plumage, without combs, the Cock some- 
times showing two small red warts. The wattles are small, 
particularly so in the Hen ; the body is short and plump ; the 
legs are very long, compared with the body, and are thinly 
covered, on the front and outside, with thick and stiff quill- 
feathers, extending to the toes. The Eggs are large, white, 
and oval in shape, and are very rich and palatable. The Hens 
are not great layers nor sitters ; at least, they have not proved 
so with me. The flesh I have not tried." 

I have also been kindly furnished, by H. L. Devereux, Esq., 
of Dedham, Mass., with the following account. He says, 
" This splendid breed of pure black Fowls has never, to my 
knowledge, been described in any of the poultry-books pub- 
lished in England or this country. They were imported from 

16 



182 THE G U E L P E R L A N P FOWL. 

the nortli of Holland, in the mouth of May, 1S42, bj- Captain 
John Devereiix, of Marblehead, Mass., in the ship Dronio, on 
hisi voyage from Anistoixiam to Boston ; and, since that time, 
haye been bred by him at his place in that town, entirely dis- 
tinct from any otiier breed. They are supposed to have origin- 
ated in the north part of Holland. The plumage is of a 
beautiful black, tiuged with blue^ of very rich appearance, and 
bearing a brilliant gloss. They have no comb, but a small 
indented, haixi, bony substance instead, and large red wattles. 
Their legs are of a shining black, smooth, and without feathers, 
except in a yery few instances. Pr. B., in his work, is by some 
means led into error; where the legs are ^^ htaii^i/ /eathend^'* 
I am inclined to belieyethey haye been crossed with the Shang- 
hae ; such crosses I haye seen. Out of a flock of some twenty 
or thirty, you may perhaps see some two or three slightly 
feathered upon the legs. Such is the fiict with regard to those 
bred in our yard from the old imported Fowls. Their flesh is 
white, tender, and juicy ; they ai'C of good size, great layers, 
seldom inclining to sit, bright active birds, and are not sur- 
passed, in point of beauty or utility, by an}" breed known in 
this country. The imiform aspect which is observable in their 
progeny is a proof of the purity of the breed." 

The portraits were obligingly furnished by H. L. Pevereux, 
Esq., and represent a pair of these beautiful Fowls now in his 
possession. He says, "The proof-impression of the Guelder- 
lands I send you, is as good as can be done in Boston, and is, 
I think, quite correct, except the feathered legs, which ought, 
to answer the true description, be smooth." 



ilill 



i^iiii'i'Vi,ip'i'iJ'«fii!triii': " 




183 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE DORKING FOWL. 

This has been called the Capon Fowl of England. It forms 
the chief supply for the London market, and is distinguished 
by a white or flesh-coloured smooth leg, armed with five, in- 
stead of four toes, on each foot. Its flesh is extremely deli- 
cate, especially after caponization ; and it has the advantage 
over some other fowls of feeding rapidly, and growing to a 
very respectable size when properly managed. The weight to 
which they sometimes attain goes much beyond that recorded 
by Mr. Dixon. Indeed, the weight given by him for first-class 
birds seems ridiculously small in comparison with that given 
by some others. Mr. Nolan, of Dublin, remarks, that " the 
humblest cottager in Ireland would smile at the idea of a 
learned English ornithologist, stating that his specimens of 
fine Dorking Fowl weighed only 7 lbs. each, while our road- 
side birds can be had from 7 to 9 lbs.'' Mr. Nolan, I think, 
is disposed to be a little sanguine, as we do not often meet 
with " road-side Fowls" whose weight is as he states. A 9 lbs. 
bird, of any breed, is a sturdy fellow. But hear what he says 
of the weight of his own Dorkings. He says that he has a 
Cock in his possession, ^^ out of condition and in heavy moult ^ 
which weighs 10 i lbs. ; if fed, and over moult, he would be 



184 THE DORKING FOWL. 

at least 2 lbs. more." He saj^s, '^The Hens are from 7 to 9 
lbs. ; they stand low on the legs ; the Cock about 22 inches, 
and the Hens about 20 inches; with short, round, plump body, 
wide on the breast and back, with abundance of white and 

juicy flesh The plumage gray, or speckled, or striped, 

and sometimes red ; the cocks-comb, in some birds, hirge, ser- 
rated, and erect ; in others, large and rose-shaped ; wattles 
large ; should be free from top-knot." Of the white Dorking, 
so much valued by some of our New England fanciers, he does 
not speak so flatteringly. He says : " A very handsome little 
bird, purely white, but better calculated for ornamental than 
useful purposes, being to the coloured Dorking as the Bantam 
is to the ordinary Fowl, and sent to market as a substitute for 
Chickens ; they are furnished as in the large variety, with the 
supplementary toe, but can bear no comparison, as to value, 
in any respect; the Cock's weight is about 4 lbs. and the 
Hen's about 3 lbs. ; the Cock stands about 15 inches high and 
the Hen about 13 inches." I have seen, and had white Dork- 
ings answering the above description, said to be of Dr. E. 
Wight's stock, of Dedham, Mass. ; and yet, I am assured, that 
last fall the Doctor had a pair, about two years old, which jointly 
weighed about 15 lbs. There is no doubt, however, that the 
coloiu-ed Dorking is much the larger bird. 

A correspondent, writing from Boston, says, " You ask me 
what kind of Fowls I prefer ? I wish to be understood that, 
when I speak of Fowls, I recommend or condemn from my 
own experience — not from the representation of others. I 
prefer the white Dorking before any other breed known in this 
part of the country. They have all the good qualities in full, 
which other breeds possess only in part; they are hardy, 
handsome, prolific, easily raised, and, when they are brought 
upon the table, ^ they are food for Emperors and Kings.' " 

The chief and necessai-y chai-acteristics of a true Dorking 
ure, white, smooth, short legs, short neck, long, broad, and 



THE DORKING FOWL. 185 

plump body ; the comb may be single or double, the latter 
generally preferred, and the fifth toe may be absent. We do 
not look for a top-knot in this variety, though I have seen 
it in specimens purporting to be genuine. The perfection of 
the Fowl, in most fanciers' estimation, is the presence of all 
the accidental as well as all the necessary characteristics. 

Dr. E. Wight, of Dedham, Mass., who has given special 
attention to this variety of Fowl, kindly furnished preceding 
portraits of his Dorkings, and writes concerning them as 
follows : — 

As you have expressed a wish for me to report my expe- 
rience in regard to the Dorking breed of Fowls, I readily com- 
ply with your request. 

In the portrait, the reader will recognise a true Dorking, 
a Fowl which has received as jealous a care in its breeding, at 
Surrey, England, as suits the pleasure of a fancier who goes 
for purity of blood. So careful are the breeders of Dorkings 
of retaining these Fowls in their own neighbourhood, that it 
has been with extreme difficulty that they could be obtained 
at any price. 

When I secured my first lot of these Fowls, some ten or 
twelve years since, through a friend who was making a peri- 
odical visit at Dorking, he assured me that it was only after a 
trial of some two years that he could obtain them, and then 
only by allowing a resident to go down to the ship and see 
them safely oflF for America ; the producers of the stock being 
fearful that other sections of England might secure the breed. 

As corroborative of others finding a like difficulty, I extract 
from the " American Agriculturist" the following, written by 
Mr. Allen : — " As Dorking Fowls are likely to be in vogue 
DOW, we think it advisable to caution all those who wish to 
possess good ones, to be very careful what they buy. Choice 



1S6 T 11 K n K KINO F W L. 

binls aro oxhYiuolv ditViouU to bo hnd, as ^Y0 found to our cost 
wluHi in F.uglaud. and it was only by spooial favour wo pro- 
cured some at last. 

** Oapt. ^lorirau lias boi^u iipwanls of two yoars oudoavour- 
ing to obtain this importation, and tiuaJly suoooedod only 
tlmnigh a worthy olorg>nian, 3lr. Ooiirtnoy, of the town of 
Porking, a pnsson^vv with him on a recent voyago home fi\)m 
the ITuitod St .; > 

*' lie aooompauiod thom by a note, apologiziug for the high 
pri*.H> he had to pay, and further s;iying — * The Oliiekon- 
breeders of Dorkiug have adopted a sort of priHctpfej that 
tliey will send aw:\v no binls alir<\ except capons, as they 
desire to n^tain them, as much as p^>ssible, among themselves, 
in w^hich, by capouizing, they carry on quite a protitable trade ; 
and they can only be had as a particular favour.' " 

The pair of Fowls tignred, weiv about two yeju'S old when 
dn\wn. and. as a consequence, show a more full dcvelopnunit 
than would those of a less mature age. The weight of tlie 
Cock was 8i lbs., tliat of the Hen fully tH lbs. When c&- 
peniztHi, this bived has btvn known to weigh 9 to 12 lbs. 

Of this bived, Picksou, on Toultry, (^1847,') SiU's: — '' These 
Fowls, (^I>orkings,^ which form the principil supply for the 
London market, :u*e distinguished by having live toes, instead 
of four, on each foot. Their flesh is extremely white, suoeu- 
lent, and delicate, and they have the advantage of feeding 
nipidly, and growing to a very large sixe when projvrly 
managed. Capons and Poulards, though by no means so 
common in England as in Fi-auoe, nro soTuetimes made ot 
these Fowls, which, when caponized. grow to an enormous 
si«e; a well-fed Capon having been known to weigh 15 lbs. ! 

"The feathers of the Porking Fowls are alnux^t alwj\v*s 
white, and the legs are short, white, aud remtvrkably smooth." 

They have large plump bodies, with a broad full chest, like 
the Partridge, and in this jx'culiarity hold the rank amonor 



T H K D O R K r N a F O W L. 1 87 

Vonliry which tho DiufjarriH do amon^ caitlo. When pro- 
duced at the table, there in no other breed 1 have Bcen er^iial 
to them. They arc ahio good layers, producing a f^ocA-mzad 
(;h)ar-white J'^gg, and, an hitterH and njotherH, cannot be yur- 
pawMcd by any );reed of* I^'owIh. 

No sure criterion i» found in the appearance of five toes, an 
LaH been Htat^jd. But where it in not found, I Hhould ap- 
prehend a ^^;roH8/' To dcHcribe a true Dorking is difficult, 
althougfj a breeder could at once recogniw} one. 

Several writers state that they are long in the body. lUxt 
that is only true while they are young. As they corue to ma- 
turity, tlje otfier partH are filled up, and they appear more 
like the form of a Ivinnet than any otljer bird. 

The prominent points arc these : a fine head, with brilliant, 
reddish-tinged eye.H — by some, t<irmed ferret-<;yed ; single or 
doubl<;comb, in both sexes; a gra(;efal neck, rather short than 
long; wide, deep, projecting breast; the body is not only 
long, but is round, rather than flat or square; and the legs, 
considering their size, short, and invariably of a silvery white. 

I may add, that when croswjd with other breeds, they in- 
variably improve the form ; and while the quality of the meat 
is improved, the amount of offal is much reduced. 

'J'hey are a hardy bird, and their young easily reared — a 
fact of great impoH;inee in tliis climate;. 

That the Chinese possess a race of Fowls which have the 
fifth toe, aw fully developed as in the Dorking, is proved by 
the fact, that J have in my possession a pair which were sent 
from Nankin, (and arrived here in March, 1850,) as choice 
specimens, having a snow-white plumage and other character- 
istics of the true Dorking. The plumage, toes, the shape and 
colour of the l^iggs, lead me to believe that the Dorkings 
originated in that section. 

Eben Wight. 

Dodkam, Maim., JJnc. /3, 1850. 



188 THE DORKING FOWL. 

Mr. Dixon remarks, on the subject of Dorkings: — For 
those who wish to stock their poultry-yards with Fowls of 
the most desirable shape and size, clothed in rich and varie- 
gated plumage, and, not expecting perfection, are willing to 
overlook one or two other points, the Speckled Dorkings* are 
the breed to be at once selected. The Hens, in addition to 
their gay colours, have a large vertically flat comb,f which, 
when they are in high health, adds very much to their brilliant 
appearance, particularly if seen in bright sunshine. The 
Cocks are magnificent. The most gorgeous hues are frequently 
lavished upon them, which their great size and peculiarly 
square-built form display to the greatest advantage. The 
breeder and the farmer's wife behold with delight their short 
legs, their broad breast, the small proportion of ofiPal, and the 
large quantity of good profitable flesh. When fatted and 
served at table, the master and mistress of the feast are satis- 
fied. The Cockerels may be brought to considerable weights, 
and the flavour and appearance of their meat are inferior to 
none. Those epicures who now and then like a Fowl killed 
by dislocation of the neck without bleeding, (the more humane 
way,) will find that this variety aff'ords a tender and high- 
flavoured dish. The Eggs are produced in reasonable abund- 
ance, and, though not equal in size to those of Spanish Hens, 



* So called from the town of Surrey, wliich brought them into 
modern repute. 

f A question has been raised, at some Poultry shows, whether the 
Dorkings should be imperatively required to have a single, or a rose 
comb. Neither form ought to disqualify birds true in other respects ; 
but we should decidedly prefer to make the acquisition of single- 
combed specimens, both as marking their relationship to the Cochin 
China, previously noticed, and as saving them from the suspicion 
of a cross with either the Malays or the Hamburghs, which a rose 
comb is apt to induce. The finest White Dorkings that have come 
under our notice have always had single combs. 



THE DORKING FOWL. 189 

may fairly be called large. They are not everlasting layers, 
but at due or convenient intervals manifest the desire of sitting. 
In this respect they are steady and good mothers, when the 
little ones appear. They are better adapted than any other 
Fowl, except the Malay, to hatch superabundant Turkey's 
Eggs. Their size and bulk enable them to afford warmth and 
shelter to the Turkey-poults for a long period. For the same 
reason, spare Goose's Eggs may be intrusted to them ; though 
in this respect I have known the Pheasant-Malays to be equally 
successful. 

With all these merits they are not found to be a profitable 
stock if kept thorough-bred and unmixed. Their powers seem 
to fail at an early age. They are also apt to pine away and 
die just at the point of reaching maturity. When the Pullet 
ought to begin to lay, and the Cockerel to crow and start his 
tail-feathers, the comb, instead of enlarging and becoming 
coral-red, shrinks and turns to a sickly pink, or even to a leaden 
hue ; and the bird, however well-fed and warmly housed, dies, 
a wasted mass of feathers, skin, and bone. It is vexing, after 
having reared a creature just to the point when it would be 
most valuable for the table or as stock, to find it "going light," 
as the country people call it ; particularly as it is the finest 
specimens, that is, the most thorough-bred, that are destroyed 
by this malady. I do not believe that the most favourable 
circumstances would prevent the complaint, though unfavour- 
able ones would aggravate it, but that it is inherent in the 
race and constitution of the birds. They appear at a certain 
epoch to be seized with consumption, exactly as, in some un- 
happy families, the sons and daughters are taken off all much 
at the same age. In the Speckled Dorkings the lungs seem to 
be the seat of disease, and it is to be regretted that no dissec- 
tion was made in cases where I had the opportunity. 

A gentleman who has kept this breed of Fowls for nearly 
twenty years, suggests that the foregoing remark ought to be 



190 T II K P (> Tv K 1 N O F O W L. 

taken ns the oxooption, ami not tho nilo ; of oonvso it mnst, 
othonviso tho wliolo rnoo wonld liavo long sinoo boon extinot. 
Moreover, a degree of robustness and fecundity, which wouhl 
be pronounced considcrabh> in Ourassows or Pheasants, may 
justly be called feeble in Oocks and Hens. The same word 
will have a ditlerent measure of foive when applied to diiVorent 
objects, lie says, that having been careful to introduce a 
fi\>sh, well-selected Cock-bird or two into the walk, every second 
or third year at farthest, he has found the race uniformly hanly, 
healthy, and prolific. The renunly is one of the best that can 
be devised ; but the neoossity for adopting it confirms, instead 
of disproving our opinion, that the Oocks of this breed are 
deficient in vigour. However, Mr. Baily, of Mount Street, 
observes, as the i-esult of his long experience, "A general re- 
mark I would make on Fowl-breeding is, that no one judges 
fairly of a breed, or sutheiently tries his opinion, if he has for 
two yeai-s been breeding in and in ; and it is not enough to 
say in defence of the sweeping condemnation of a race, that ho 
has only bred two years from the birds, and consequently not 
long enough for the evil to show itself; he nuist first inquire 
whether there was relationship in the stock he began with ; 
perhaps ho had a Cock and Pullet brother and sister from a 
friend or dealer, the progeny of similar relations, and from a 
yani where a change of stock was absolutely necessary when 
these were disposed of: ho would thus unwittingly be carrying 
on the unfortunate process, and honestly, though mistakenly, 
consider that a defect in the constitution of the Fowl, which 
is, in truth, a mal-pnictice of the owner of it." There is cer- 
tainly great force in the caution : the Poultry-shows, with 
compulsory sales, now coming into fashion, oflfer one means 
of remedying the evil. 

We are inclined to think that, for persons who live in grassy 
and thick-wooded situations, long-legged Fowls are preferable 
to short-legged breeds like the Dorking, they being carried 



T II K I) O II K T N O FOWL. 191 

liighfjr above tho (JarrjpH and dewH, bcHidcH having a longer 
Icvorago of limb fif Huch an idea m not altogether fanciful) 
to aHHJHt them in Heratx;liing for the womiH and inw.'etH with 
which Huch loeaJitieH abound. For instance, tlie average huc- 
C(JKH of many country-people in rearing young Turkeyn, iH 
greaf/jf, all alorig, than that with ChickenH. 

Such ])('j)i>](t Mi lira carelesH about weeing the full comple- 
ment of live toes, are axlviHcd tf> try the Surrey FowIh, a nearly 
allied bre(}d, or, as Home call it, an improvement of the Dork- 
ing. 'I'hey are a wary fine variety, and may be ha^l genuine 
from any of the rcHpectable London dealerH. The Old Sub- 
Hcx, or Kent, arc cloHcly related to thcHC, if not absolutely 
identical. 

]>ut the BcriouH and fjxtal maladicH of Fowls are difficult to 
trace to their cauHC, and Htill more difficult to cure by the 
application of any remedy. It in unnecesBary to more than 
allude to the volumes of absurd, irrational, and impni/;ticable 
dinjctions that have been printed on the subject. Many iil- 
nesscfl which we suppoHC to be of natural and Bpontaneouu 
origin are, there is no doubt, brought on by the neglect and 
cruelty of boys and servants. Our domesticated animals are 
dumb; they cannot tell their mast<^r what ill-treatment tbey 
have received in his absence; and they often severely, cruelly, 
HufTer the displeasure of some ill-natured underling, who dare 
not show his temper in higher quarters. Many a fimcied or 
real wrong has been expiated by the Horse, the i>>og, the (Jat, 
or the Poultry. Nay, there is no concealing it, and mothers 
should listen to it, and think of it, as a motive to keep their 
lips guarded and their brow serene — many a harsh word spoken 
in a moment of irritation has been revenged in shakes and 
pinches upon the helpless infant. 

In a communication with which I have been favoured by 
Dr. Jievan, the able author of the ^' Honey Bee,^' he says, 
^' Just about roosting-time, one of the Cocks (of a very choice 



192 T 11 K P u K I X u r o \y t.. 

breed) wns found apparently lifeless^ at the baok-doi\r, lying on 
ite side, as though it had been knocked down» which I really 
belitrve it had. I bi\night it to the tire, and placed it in a 
b;isket ot* hv^Y, It sv.K>n began to mow, and became violently 
convnlsed." The worthy IKx^tor made a cornjct diagnosis of 
the malady, and so avoided the mortification of administt^ring 
a long list of nostrums in \-;uu. Some yeai-^ agv> we had a 
most beautiful Porking OtH?k, the admiration of oui*selves and 
of all who Siiw him. Atter a time he lH?eame ill, weak, and 
dejeeted; got woi*se, and died. Kvery oniinary cvmifort and 
care were afforvied, but we did not try any of the extr;\ordinary 
recipes that ait* current. 

By-iind-by the discovery of cruel tivatment to my pony 
elicited the fact that the stable-boy \v-:\s in the habit of making 
the Oo^^k "drunk ;" a process which is efftvted by seiiing the 
bird by the legs, and whirling him nmnd and round in the air, 
till the centrifug:il force shall have sent the blood to the head, 
and produced apoplexy. The amusement consists in seeing 
Ae Cock stagger and reel when placed upon the ground, and 
g^dually recover as it unsteadily widks off. " Tipy Hen" is 
an agnwible ^-;\riation of the sport. The C(.x>k had seen, and 
was indignant; but the lad's mother, when he entered my 
service, had, like the enchantress of rvuuance, given her sou a 
word of power. To the tuigry threat of the cook that she 
would tell of the atrvxuty, it was replied, " If you do, / will 
tell that every time it is your Sunday out, you go to see the 
little boy you had two years ago." Cook was thunderstruck 
at the mention of her " misfortune," and was tongue-tied. And 
so the machinery of households givs on. 

I have subsequently found that, in all cases of suspicious deatli, 
the surest way of coming at the truth, and preventing further 
mal-practices. is to hold a formal inquest, with a post-mortem ex- 
amination, and, after a delilvrate iuvestigation. to punish firmly 
by rebuke or dismissal^ any outrage on the laws of humanity. 



T UK T)0KK1N0 F O W L. 193 

Well might Aldrovari'Ji caution hiH poultry -loving readers: 
*^ Therefore, ho who wantw to erjjoy a profit from these birds 
ought, in the firnt phice, to «clcct Honio faithful body. P'or 
unicHH he who haw the cure of the J fens remaiuH lionoHt towards 
his lord, the gain will not cover the expenses. An attendant 
of this sort, namely, who climbs into the hen-house, and col- 
lects the KggH, and turns by hand those which are incubated, 
will rightly be called the Ilcn-kecpcr, or Guardian." 

As to th(j casualties arising from the neglect or ill-temper 
of servants, every farmer who has live stock U) be tended, has 
had abundant proofs. There is a peculiar idiosyncracy in 
some individuals, which fits them to take charge of certain 
animals. 8ome female servants in the country have quite a 
passion for bringing up poultry, and by their care and kind- 
ness will rescue apparently moribund (Jhickens and Turkeys 
from the threatening .jaws of death. A groom or stable-man 
almost always despises poultry. A gardener thinks it beneath 
him to look after them. Even in public Menageries the man 
wlio has charge of a I^ion deems it a condescension to tend a 
i'aw harmless birds. A clever little girl often makes an excel- 
lent poultry-tender: boys arc as mischievous and untrustworthy 
as monkeys. When there is any thing in hand requiring 
peculiar watchfulness, it is not a bad plan, if possible, to at- 
tend to it one's self. 

Pure Dorking Hens are sometimcH barren. I had one, a 
perfect model to the eye, short, square, compact, large, with 
plumage, comb, and weight all that could be wished — the very 
l^ullet that a fancier would have chosen to perpetuate the 
breed. J>ut she never laid, nor showed any disposition to sit, 
and, in consequence of her uselcssness, at about two years old 
was brought to table. The carving-knife soon demonstrated a 
inal-formation of the back and side bones, and showed that the 
models of the breeder may sometimes be too highly finished. 
This certainly might be a case of breeding in-and-in. Jjut the 

17 



194 T H K O O R K I N O V O AV T.. 

Cocks, with all tlioir outward trappings and sturdy build, I 
must suspect to be detieleut in vigour. If many Hens are 
allowed to run with them, eleiu- Eggs will disappoint those who 
want largv^ broods of Ohiekens. Three, or at mos^t four, liens 
to a Coek will give the most sueivssful results.* These and a 
few other apparently trifling faets seem to show that with the 
Speckled Workings (^a variety of great antiquity) the art of 
breeding has arrived at its limits. That it has limits is well 
known to persons of praetieal experience. Sir J. S. Sebright 
says, "I have tried many experiments for breeding /«-(i«(^i*/< ' 
(for the s:ike of developing particular properties) ''upon Pogs, 
Fowls, and l^geons : the Pogs became, from strong Spaniels, 
weak and diminutive lap-dogs ; the Fowls became long in the 
legs, suiivll iu the body, and bad bi\)eders." 

"There are a grtwt many sorts of fancy Pigeons; each 
vjiriety has some particular property, which constitutes its sup- 
posed value, and which the amateui*s increase as much as pos- 
sible, botli by breeding in-and-in, and by selection, until the 
particular property is made to piTdominate to such a degree, 
in some of the more retined sorts, that they cannot exist with- 
out the greatest care, and are incapable of ivaring their young 
without the assisti^nce of other l^geonskept for that purpose." 
— 2^hc Art of Imjwvhh/ the Bn tth of Domestic Afiimah, p. lo. 

As mothers, an objection to the Pv-rkings is, that they are 



* Chaucer's Cook Chauntoolovo, who Avas pvoIviMy a Colvlou II am- 
Imrgh, had a larger alUnvauoe : — 

•* This geiitU cok had in his governance 
Seven heunes for to don all his plesance, 
AVhioh were his susters and his paramonres, 
And wonder like to him as of colouves. 
Of which the fairest, hewed in the throte. 
Was oleped taire Pamoselle Pei-telote." 

Th£ Xonms PreesUs Tak. 



T If K I) R KlSa VOWL. ] 95 

iA)(> heavy and (;liirnHy to roar tlio ('hicks of any Hrnallor and 
more dclicat<j bird than thernHclvcH. I'hoaHantH, i^artridgoH, 
JJaniainH, (iuinoa Fowl, arc trampled under foot and eriiHhed, if 
in the leant weakly. The Hen, in her affectionate} industry in 
scratching for grubs, kicks her lesser nurslings right and left, 
and leaves them sprawling on their backs. JJefore thf;y are a 
month old, half of them will be muddh;d U) death with this 
rough kindness. In spite of these drawbacks, the iJorkings 
are still in high favour; but a cross is found to be more profit- 
able than the true breed. A showy, energetic (Jame-coek, with 
Dorking Mens, produces Chickens in size and beauty little infe- 
rior to their maternal parentage, and much more robust. 
Everybody knows their peculiarity in having a supernumerary 
toe on each foot. I'his eharacU^ristic almoKt always disappears 
with the first cross, but it is a point which can very well be 
spared without much disa^lvantage. In other respects, the ap- 
pearance of the nfjwly-hat.ehed Chicks is scarcely altered. The 
eggs of the J>orking Hens are large, pure white, vary much 
rounded, and nearly equal in size at each end. The Chicka 
arc brownish -yellow, with a broa^l brown stripe down the mid- 
dle of the back, and a narrower one on eax;h side; feet and 
legs yellow. 

Of this breed Mr. Alfred Whitaker thus expresses his opin- 
ion: — *'I agree with you fully as to the usefulness of this de- 
scription of Poultry, but I do not view them exactly through 
the same medium as to their beauty. Compared with the 
Pheasant-Malays, they arc short-necked, and there is no arch 
or crest to the neck. Their colours vary from a streaked grey 
to a mottled or spotted brown and wh\Ui. A neighbour here 
has some of the finest I ever saw; the Cocks with very full 
double combs, and the Hens generally with reddish-brown spots 
on a whiUi ground. To njy eye the Cocks look heavy and 
stupid, neither the head nor the tail being usually carried in an 
erect p>osition, or with any semblance of spirit. As regards 



196 THE DORKING FOWL. 

size, they are magnificent. I saw one on mj friend's dinner- 
table tliree days since, quite as large as an ordinary Hen 
Turkey ; it was a cockerel about seven months old. My expe- 
rience of their laying and breeding qualities agrees mainly with 
your statement, except that I should lay still stronger empha- 
sis on their fiital clumsiness as mothers, which I am inclined 
to think is aggravated by their extra toe behind, and the great 
length of their back-toes. They frequently trample to death 
their Chickens during the process of hatching, and in a small 
coop they demolish them at a fearful rate. I think they never 
should be cooped with their chickens : but a still safer course 
would be to hatch the Eggs under a mother of a less rough 
physique, or perhaps by Cantelo's hydro-incubator." The only 
question is, how the Hen is to be employed when the sitting 
fit comes on, for they are most persevering sitters. I have 
successfully hatched both Turkeys and Geese under Dorking 
Hens. The latter will stand a great deal of trampling and 
kicking about without taking much harm from it. Mr. Whit- 
aker continues, " I have crossed the Dorkings with Pheasant 
Malays. The first cross produces a fine bird, which is large, 
though not prolific ; but if you were to cross the breed with 
each other, they dwindle to nothing. The doctrine of breed- 
ing is yet ill understood. I am disposed to think that, where 
you have a real variety, breeding in is the natural and best 
mode of procedure; but that, when you cross two thorough 
breeds, you have no guarantee that the cross breed will be good 
further than the first result." 

It is a question how the Speckled Dorkings were first intro- 
duced. Some maintain that the pure White Dorkings are the 
original breed with five toes, and that the Speckled Dorkings 
is a recent and improved cross, by which the size was much 
increased, between the original White breed and the Malay, 
or some other large stock of poultry. From this opinion I 
must entirely dissent, on the ground of strong, though not ab« 



T UK J) O U K 1 N G F O W L . 197 

Bolutcly concluKivc, cvidcucc to the contrary. It socmB to mo 
that Columella's favourite sort of Hen couhl not differ much 
from our .Speckled Dorkings. lie says, '' hat them be of a 

reddish or dark plumage, and with black wings Let 

the breeding Hens, therefore, be of a choice colour, a robust 
body, square built, full breasted, with large heads, with upright 

and bright red combs those are believed U) be the best 

bred which have five toes," &c. Except that there is no men- 
tion of speckles, (and he never describes minute markings,) the 
whole description almost exactly tallies with our birds of the 
present day. Pliny's account agrees with this: "Huperiority 
of breed in Hens is denoted by an upright comb, sometimes 
double, black wings, ruddy visage, and an odd number of toes/' 
Lib. X. c. Ixxvii. It appears that Columella had tiie White sort, 
but he rejected them ; for he advises, '^Let the White ones be 
avoided, for they are generally both tender and less vivacious, 
and also are not found to be prolific'' — faults which are still 
attributed to them. I cannot, therefore, avoid believing that 
from the robust, dark-coloured, five-toed Fowl, white indivi- 
duals have been from time to time produced and propagated, 
exactly as we see in other species of Gallinaceous birds that, 
have long been in domestication — Pea Fowl, Turkeys, and 
Guinea Fowl, for instance ; and as the white variety of these is 
mostly smaller and more delicate than birds of the normal 
plumage, so the White Dorkings are inferior in size, and per- 
haps in hardihood. I think also that there is no instance of 
any white species of Cocks and Hens having been found wild, 
(except the Silky Fowls, and those are separat<id by Temminck 
into a distinct species;) which is some argument that dark and 
gaudy colours are the hues originally characteristic of the 
genus. 



17* 



198 COLO V U K l> n U K I N U S. 



COLOURED DORKINGS, 

An osteomod oonY*sp'nuiout wvitosi to tlio FAlitor ns follows, 
conooniiiig the abovo-namod variety : — 

You ask luy opinion. ^Yhothor or not the Coloured, Sj.H3ok- 
led. or Gray Uorkiugs. are thorough breeds / I eousider them 
mongrels. I have seen many Fowls in this vieinity, whieh 
were imported fnrni England and Inland under these names. 
I have never known an instanee in whieh the progi^uy has 
been like the imported Fowls, I think the only eolour whieh 
is thrown by the thorough-bivd Porking is white, with white 
bill and legs, and a supernumerary hind-toe. The hind-toes 
haA*e a peeiiliar form and shape in the thorough-bred AVhit<3 
Dorking, whieh are not shown in the Coloured Porkings. 

The white bived of Porking-s have, to my knowledge, been 
bred "in-and-in" without any variation of these peeuliar 
marks, and without the s^lightest ehange in eolonr. The Co- 
hnuvd, Sptvkled, and Cray Porkiug have not produeed their 
like in any instanee, but have reverted to the ditVerent biveds 
from whieh they were derived. 

The urt^at and well-deserved reputation whieh the breed of 
Fowls known as Porking Fowls, has aequired in England, 
arises moi\^ fi\>m the superiorit}- of its fleslx over that of other 
Fowls, than fi*om its beauty of form, splendor of plumage, 
the quality or size of its Eggs, or the weight of its body. 

In the markets of London. Fowls with white legs and five 
toes would always find purehasers. on aeeount of the well-known 
richness and flavour of the tlesh, whatever might be its size, 
whether eaponized or not. And as large Fowls commanded 
much larger prices than small ones, the breeders have been in- 
duced to increase the size of the Fowls, ivtainiug as much as 



THE DORKING FOWL. 109 

poHHiblc thoHO peculiar charactcriHticH, viz., the vfh'iUi IcgB and 
the five tooH, ovon at the rink of Kacrificirig tJic good qualiticH 
of the flcHh. For tliat purpose the Chittagong Fowl han been 
'u8ed to croHH with the WhiUj Dorking, on a<K;ount of the near 
roBernblance of the colour of the legn and the great weight to 
which the Chittagong J^'owl attairiH. 

That the colour of the Dorking FowIk was white, abundant 
proof iH funiinhed by Moubray, W. B. Dickson, and others. 
Mr, James Main, who, early in this pres^int century, published 
a book on J^jultry, says, '' I'he njost valued variety for the 
table, at present, is the Dorkiruj brcM. This is pure white, and 
highly est/'cnied for the whiteness and delicacy of their flesh, 
when served at table. 'J'hey also fetch a higher price at 
market. Among breeders, real J)orking Cocks sell for from 
five to ten shillings each.'' 

'J'hat the pure J>orking Fowl has become extinct, or nearly 
so, in England, I will quote from a work on Poultry, written by 
W. C. L. Martin, one of the scientific officers of the Zoological 
Society of London, who, speaking of the Dorking Fowl, says, 
<SSurrey is noted for its Fowls, especially that breed which 
passes under the name of Dorking, and which is cultivatx^d in 
the district surrounding that celebrated town. The Dorking 
Fowl is a short-leggcfl, plump, round-bodied Fowl, remarkable 
for having five toes, that is, a supernumerary hind-toe. The 
Dorking Fowl is of good size, and of a white colour, but such 
are seldom seen." Mr. Martin is of the highest authority, 
being, not merely a member of the Zoological Society, but one 
of the scientific officers of that institution. 

That the White Dorking had become exceedingly scarce in 
Dorking and its vicinity, I will give you an extract of a let- 
ter written by Captain E. E. Morgan, of the London packet- 
ship Victoria, dated at London, April 14th, 1845, and pub- 
lished in the American Agriculturist, July, 1845. It is as 



200^ THE DORKING FOWL. 

follows : — " I shall write to BIr. Courtney again, who lives near 
Dorking. He told me, and I have also ascertained the same 
fact myself from other quarters, that none is to be obtained 
here, unless of a mongrel breed.^' Mr. Courtney, in a letter to 
Captain Morgan, says, "The Old White sort is altogether bred 
out, and the Sj>eckled and Gray varieties are now all the rage, 
and altogether are, perhaps, the best ham-door Fowls in 
existence/^ 

The Reverend Edward Saul Dixon, the author of a work on 
Ornamental and Domestic Poultry, published in London in 
1850, says, '^ For those who wish to stock their Poultry-yards 
with Fowls of most desirable shape and size, clothed in rich 
and variegated plumage, and, not expecting perfection, are will- 
ing to overlook one or two points, the Speckled Dorkings, so 
called from the town in Surrey, which brought them into mo- 
dern repute, are the breed to be at once selected.^^ 

" It is a question how the Speckled Dorkings were first in- 
troduced. Some maintain that the pure White Dorkings are 
the original breed, and that the Speckled Dorkings are a recent 
and improved cross.'' 

After speaking of the good qualities of the Speckled Dorkings^ 
Mr. Dixon says, " With all these merits they are not found to 
be a profitable stock if kept thorough-bred and unmixed. Their 
powers seem to fail at an early age. They are also apt to 
pine away and die, just at the point of reaching maturity ; par- 
ticularly the finest specimens, that is, the most thorough-bred, 
are destroyed by this malady. These, and a few other appa- 
rently trifling facts, seem to show that with the Speckled Dork- 
ings, the art of breeding has arrived at its limits." 

Mr. Dixon further says, '' In the Speckled Dorkings the 
lungs seem to be the seat of the disease. They appear at a 
certain epoch to be seized with consumption. I do not believe 
that the most favourable circumstances would prevent the com- 



THE DORKING FOWL.- 201 

plaint, though unfavourable ones would aggravate it ; but that 
it is inherent in the race and constitution of the birds." 

The White Dorkings are hardy and active birds, and are not 
subject to consumption, or any other disease. 

Mr. Alfred Whitaker, a correspondent of the G-ardeners' 
Chronicle and Farmers' G-azette, an English publication, says, 
in an article on the Speckled Dorkings, ^' I am disposed to 
think that, when you have a real variety, breeding-in is the 
natural and best mode of procedure, but that, when you cross 
two thorough breeds, you have no guarantee that the cross 
breed will be good further than the first result." 

J. J. Nolan, of Dublin, Ireland, a dealer in fancy animals, 
has, within the past year, put forth a work for the purpose of 
advertising the articles in which he deals, in which he speaks 
very highly of the Coloured Dorking, which he styles the 
" True Dorking." He says, " Breeders will find it necessary 
to introduce, occasionally, fresh blood into their stock of Dork- 
ing; otherwise they become unhealthy, and degenerate into a 
dwarfish size ; and, if you expect productive Eggs, do not give 
more than four or five Hens to a Cock." Nolan, in speaking 
of the Old Sussex or Kent Fowl, says, ^^ It is so nearly allied 
to the Dorking, as to be almost impossible to separate them : 
they may be called identical, as, in the same clutch, some of the 
birds will have five toes, while others will have but four : those 
with the five toes being denominated by the breeders, Dork- 
ing ', and they designated those with only four toes, the Old 
Sussex. Many fanciers prefer the old Sussex to the Dorking, 
considering the additional toe as rather a deformity, and, when 
perching, liable to accident. They are of all the various 
colours of the Dorking : the description of that bird may in 
every particular be applied to them. They require, as in the 
Dorking, fresh blood introduced, or they become degenerate." 
I have given these extracts for the purpose of showing that a 



202 THE DORKING FOWL. 

white race of Dorkings did exist, and that the coloured, 
speckled, and gray varieties cannot be depended upon to re- 
produce their own characteristics. 

Yours, &c. 

S. Bradford Morse, Jr. 

East Boston, Mass., December 14iA, 1850. 




R. BLAKE'S SPANISH FOWLS. 



203 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SPANISH FOWL. 

With this variety of Fowls, I must confess myself not 
much acquainted. I am familiar with their appearance and 
general characteristics, but not so with their habits and quali- 
ties. They are said to possess many and rare merits. Their 
appearance is certainly very fine, being spirited and animated. 
The name ^^ Spanish" is said to be a misnomer, as they were 
originally brought by the Spaniards from the West Indies, 
and, although subsequently propagated in Spain, it is now very 
difficult to procure good specimens from that country. They 
were taken in considerable numbers from Spain into Holland, 
where they have, for many years, been bred with great care ; 
and it is now from that quarter our best specimens come. 

A thorough-bred Spanish Fowl should be entirely black, as 
far as feathers are concerned, and, when in high condition, dis- 
play a greenish metallic lustre. The combs of both male and 
female are very large, of a brilliant scarlet, and that of the Hen 
drooping over on one side. Their most singular feature is a 
white mark on each cheek, of a fleshy substance, similar to the 
wattles ) which is small in the Hens, but large and very con- 
spicuous in the Cocks. '■'- This marked contrast of black, bright 
red, and white, makes the head of the Spanish Cock as hand- 
some as that of any other variety ; and, in the genuine breed, 



204 THE SPANISH FOWL. 

the whole form is equally good ; but the scraggy, long-legged, 
misshapen mongrels are often met with, enough to throw 
discredit on the whole race/' 

I have seen and know enough to regard the Black Spanish, 
in its purity, to be a truly distinct variety. A full-grown Cock 
may weigh nearly 7 lbs., and a Hen about 6 lbs. The comb is 
deeply serrated, and the wattles are very long, and the bird quite 
free from top-knot. They are not very pugnacious. The Hens 
are not inclined to sit, but are very good layers : Eggs large 
and white. 

F. Blake, Esq., kindly furnished the portraits, and writes 
as follows, concerning this ancient variety : — 

Boston, December lOtJi, 1850. 
J. J. Kerr, M. D. 

Dear Sir: — The Black Spanish Fowls, of which the artist, 
Mr. Durivage, has produced a most faithful representation, 
were presented to me by James Yates, Esq., of Lancashire, 
England, through Capt. Wm. Harrison, of the British steamer 
Canada, in the autumn of 1847. In describing them, Mr. 
Yates remarks : " I found great difficulty in getting the pure 
breed at first, and I do not know of any one in this country 
that has it except myself. In breeding them, it is better to 
get the Dorking Hen for hatching the Eggs." 

I have seen no breed of Fowls more peculiar, and strikingly 
attractive in its appearance, than this; and as regards their 
laying qualities, and character for the table, I decidedly prefer 
them to any others with which I have had experience. 

The comb of the Cock is exceedingly large, deeply serrated, 
of a brilliant scarlet, and quite erect. The wattles are of pro- 
portionate size, which, with the large and beautifully white 
ear-lobe, or cheek-pieces, and brilliant jet-black plumage, pecu- 
liar to this variety, affords a very striking and agreeable 
contrast. 



THE SPANISH rOWL.~ 205 

The comb of the Hen is also quite large, hut drooping, and 
the white cheek-piece is less conspicuous. 

The legs of both Cock and Hen are of a leaden hue ; the 
under part of the feet, of a dingy yellow. 

The Chickens, of which I have had between one and two 
hundred during the past season, have been perfectly uniform 
in all their characteristics, and this uniformity in the progeny, 
I regard as one of the surest tests of thorough breeding. They 
are literally everlasting layers. Their peculiar disinclination 
to sit is very remarkable, and I regard it as their most valu- 
able characteristic; for, in my experience, I have been exceed- 
ingly annoyed by the constant propensity which some other 
breeds have manifested in this respect. For the period of more 
than three years, during which I have had them, the Hens 
have not in a single instance manifested a desire to sit. Mou- 
bray, Richardson, Dixon, and other writers, concur in express- 
ing the most favourable opinions of their character. " As 
table birds,'^ says Richardson, " they hold a place in the very 
first rank, their flesh being particularly white, tender, and 
juicy, and the skin possessing that beautifully clear white hue, 
so essential a requisite for birds designed for the consumption 
of the gourmand. They are, besides, prolific, extremely 
easily fed ; and, in short, I know of no Fowl I would rather re- 
commend to the notice of the breeder.^^ 

Dixon, who, I think, may be regarded as one of the very 
best authorities, remarks : ^^ It is a noble race of Fowls, possess- 
ing many great merits; of spirited and animated appearance, 
of considerable size, excellent for the table, both in whiteness 
of flesh and skin, and also in flavour ; laying exceedingly large 
Eggs in considerable numbers ; but the scraggy, long-legged, 
misshapen mongrels one often sees in the poorer quarters of a 
town, are enough to throw discredit on the whole race. Find- 
ing it too troublesome to preserve a variety of breeds in perfect 
purity, I have, after considerable experience, fixed upon the 

18 



206 THE SPANISH FOWL. 

Black Spanish as my preference, and shall keep but one other 
breed for sitters. I am not inclined to disparage other breeds, 
(and I assure you the organization of our society in New Eng- 
landj with its exhibitions, has excited an interest which renders 
us somewhat sensitive upon this subject,) but I am satisfied 
that, if persons interested will confine their attention to some 
one favourite breed, avoiding a too frequent propensity for cross 
breeding, we shall soon establish the fact, that there is no de^ 
scription of stock more susceptible of improvement than our 
Domestic Poultry, and shall convince those who are somewhat 
inclined to smile at our hobby, that the ordinary barn-yard 
Fowl is of comparatively little value. 

Respectfully yours, 

Francis Blake. 

Mr. Dixon says : — The Spanish breed is, in all probability, of 
ancient and remote origin, and does really seem to have reached 
us from the country after which it is named. In North Devon 
they call the Spanish Fowls " Minorcasj^' others call them Por- 
tugal Fowl. Neither term removes them far from their old-esta- 
blished location, if not their original home. It is a noble race of 
Fowls, possessing many great merits ; of spirited and animated 
appearance, of considerable size, excellent for the table, both in 
whiteness of flesh and skin, and also in flavour, laying exceed- 
ingly large Eggs in considerable numbers. Among birds of its 
own breed it is not deficient in courage ; though it yields with- 
out showing much fight to those which have a dash of game 
blood in their veins. It is a general favourite in all large 
cities, for the additional advantage that no soil of smoke or 
dirt is apparent on its plumage. The thorough-bred birds of 
the fancy should be entirely black, as far as feathers are con- 
cerned, and, when in high condition, display a greenish metallic 
lustre. The combs of both Cock and Hen are exceedingly 
large, of a vivid and most brilliant scarlet ; that of the Hen 



THE SPANISH FOWL.- 207 

droops over on one side. Their most singular feature is a 
large white patch, or ear-lobe, on the cheek, which in some 
specimens extends over great part of the face, of a fleshy sub- 
stance, similar to the wattle ; it is small in the Hens, but large 
and very conspicuous in the Cocks. This marked contrast of 
black, bright red, and white, makes the head of the Spanish 
Cock as handsome as that of any variety we have ; and in the 
genuine breed the whole form is equally good : but the scraggy, 
long-legged, misshapen mongrels one often sees in the poorer quar- 
ters of a town, are enough to throw discredit on the whole race. 
Spanish Hens are celebrated as good layers, and produce very 
large, quite white Eggs, of a peculiar shape, being very thick 
at both ends, and yet tapering off a little at each. They are, 
by no means, good mothers of families, even when they do sit, 
which they will not often condescend to do, proving very care- 
less, and frequently trampling half their brood under foot. 
But the inconveniences of this habit are easily obviated by 
causing the Eggs to be hatched by some more motherly Hen. 
It has been noticed that this variety of Fowl frequently 
loses nearly all the feathers on the body, besides the usual 
quantity on the neck, wings, and tail ; and, if they moult late, 
and the weather is severe, they feel it much. Nothing else 
can reasonably be expected to take place with an " everlasting 
layer." It often happens to the G-uinea Fowl; and the reason 
of it is plain. If the system of a bird is exhausted by the un- 
remitting production of Eggs, it cannot contain within itself 
the wherewithal to supply the growth of feathers. The stream 
that will fill but one channel, cannot be made to keep two at 
high-water mark; and therefore Mr. Leonard Barber justly 
observes, ^' With regard to an anxiety about their constant 
laying, in my opinion, nature ought not to be forced, as it re- 
quires a rest. But some people think it cannot be right if 
their Hens do not lay every day ; and I would advise such to 
have some early spring Chickens, which would begin laying in 



208 THE SPANISH FOWL. 

the autumn and continue mostly through the winter; and their 
old Hens would commence in the spring/' 

" I have had Hens laying every day, but never wish them 
to continue the practice, as, nine times out of ten, they suffer 
afterwards/' — H. S. 

It is doubtful whether they are even yet thoroughly ac- 
climatized, for continued frost at any time much injures their 
combs ; frequently causing mortification in the end, which has 
terminated in death. A warm poultry-house, high feeding, 
and care that the birds do not remain too long exposed to severe 
weather, are the best means of preventing this disfigurement. 

Some birds are occasionally produced, handsomely streaked 
with red on the hackle and back. This is no proof of bad 
breeding, if other points are right. On the contrary, ifc is, as 
near as may be, the sort which Columella's relation might have 
kept in Spain,* at the time when he was improving the native 
sheep by the importation of rams from Morocco, eighteen hun- 
dred years ago. 

The Chicks are large, as would be expected from such Eggs, 
entirely shining black, except a pinafore of white on the breast, f 
and a slight sprinkling under the chin, with sometimes also a 
little white round the beak and eyes; legs and feet black. 
Many of them do not get perfectly feathered till they are three 
parts grown ; and therefore, to have these birds come to per- 
fection in this country, where the summers are so much shorter 
than in their native climate, it is necessary to have them 
hatched early in spring, so that they may get well covered 
with plumage before the cold rains of autumn. But, as Mr. 
Bissell observes, " there is any thing but an uniformity in the 
time Spanish Chickens get their plumage; the Pullets are al- 

* " M. Columella patruus meus, acris vir ingenii, atque illustria 
agricola." — Lib. vii. c. 2. 

f In this particular the Spanish Chicks are precisely like the 
Black Polish Chicks.— Ed. 



THE SPANISH FOWL. - 209 

ways earlier and better feathered than the Cockerels : the latter 
are generally half naked for a considerable length of time after 
hatching. But this is not universally the case, for some of 
my best Cockerels were feathered tolerably well at an early age . 
This is a fact worth some particular remark, as many superfi- 
cial observers in this neighbourhood have invariably rejected, 
for breeding purposes, the Cockerels which got their feathers 
early, supposing from that fact that they were not purely bred. 
But I have not only found them to possess all the qualities of 
the Spanish, fully and truly developed, but that their early 
feathers so screen them from the inclemencies of the weather, 
that they are enabled soon to outstrip their brethren in size." 
The black, however, is not the only valuable race of Spanish 
Fowl, although certain metropolitan dealers, who have no 
right to offer an opinion, if they do not choose to give infor- 
mation on the subject, presume to affirm that there can be no 
such breed as specMed Spanish, it being characteristic of that 
breed to be perfectly black. But Mr. Swainson justly com- 
plains of the deficiencies and the conduct of this class of people ; 
and it is surprising that, since the establishment of the Zoolo- 
gical Society, they have not seen both the impolicy and the 
impracticability of withholding information on natural history 
from the public ; for I cannot suppose the folly of any attempt 
to mislead. " Our first idea was to have drawn up (in the 
volume on birds) as complete a catalogue as possible of all such 
foreign birds as were to be met with in our public or private 
menageries, distinguishing such as were known to have bred 
in confinement, and had consequently become domesticated, 
from such as were merely acclimated, or accustomed to our 
climate. This, without doubt, would have been the most de- 
sirable plan of proceeding, and would have given that informa- 
tion to the lovers of aviaries, which is now so much wanted ; 
but further inquiry showed us the utter imposnhility of doing 
thisj from the total absence of the necessary materials. It has 

18* 



210 THE SPANISH FOWL. 

wM been hereto/ore the custom of n\\^nh'n</ in prinfj m/orma- 
tion of this nafiur. Those persons whose trade lies in the 
buying and selling of living birds, iind of which there ivre seve- 
ral in London, an not jpefsons capaNe of icriting ttpon sttch 
mattcfs, tren had tJuy the inclination to frreal what thci/ no 
doubt consider tJic secrets of tJuir era/}. The Zoological Society, 
on the other hand, by embracing within its objects the whole 
animal kingxlom, has hitherto found itself so oeenpied, and its 
attention so distracted, by the multiplioity of its concerns and 
the paucity of its working members, that nothing worth men- 
tioning has been commimicated to the public on this interest- 
ing subject. However desirable, therefore, such an exposition 
as we at first contemplated would be, it never can be carried 
into execution, unless I\i/ the }ioicer/ul and united assistance of 
those who direct their time and attention almost exclusively to 
the rearing and management of birds." — Animals in Menage- 
riV.s, Piu-t 11. '• Birds," pp. 147, 14S. 

A gentleman, who has served in the British army, in whose 
opinion, as a naturalist and a man of education, we have as 
great confidence as in that of any mere fowl-deiUer, states, '' In 
England there are two varieties of Spanish Fowl, the Black, 
and the Gray, or Speckled, the latter being of a slaty gray 
with white legs. In Spain there must be many varieties of 
everlasting layers, for I have seen a lot abroad that diflered 
widely in appearance, single combs, double combs, and a great 
variety of colour." 

Mr. Barber says, '' Being of opinion that our breed of Fowls 
required improvement, and having heari from a Spanish friend 
that they had a verj- fine breed in the part of Spain he came 
from, which were chiefly white or speckled, I last year (1S46) 
got him to procm-e me some, and finding that they were such 
excellent layers, and that they were so much admired by every 
one who saw them, I got another importation about a month 
since, (Nov. 6th, 1S47,) amongst which there are three 



T n E S P A N I S 11 F W L. 211 

Bpeckled black and white, in ahape and carriage very much 
like the spangled Polish, (except heing much longer in the leg,) 
having top-knots, and a tuft of feathers hanging under the 
throat, and white legs. The others are pure white, in shape 
and carriage exactly like the black Spanish, only wanting the 
white cheek-patch. They are much larger and broader than 
any of the black I have ever seen, and they are very fine in 
the neighbourhood of London. The Cock that came with the 
first lot is entirely black, and long in the legs, but without the 
white cheek-patch. In my opinion, they are the most useful 
and ornamental breed of Fowls both for the breeder and ama- 
teur. Their Eggs are equal in size and number to those of 
the black Spanish. Some of mine last year weighed three, 
and some four ounces each. They appear very healthy and 
hardy. My Fowls came from the neighbourhood of Xeres de 
la Frontera, in Andalusia, about twenty -five miles from Cadiz. 
They have cost me about ten shillings each, including freight, 
duty, and expense of clearing." 

Another gentleman says, ^' I have a few Chickens out, from 
Mr. Barber's Andalusian Hens, some of which seem to be the 
true old black Spanish, and others of a grisly white, one of 
which has evident signs of a large future mufi", but not the 
slightest semblance of a top-knot at present. They are with- 
out exception the very largest and finest Chicks I ever saw, 
coming, as they do, out of Eggs, fine certainly, but which do not 
exceed many of my own." — H. IT. 

Some of these birds are of a blue, or gray, or slaty colour. 
Their growth is so rapid, and their eventual size so large, that 
they are remarkably slow in obtaining their feathers. Although 
well covered with down whejj first hatched, they look almost 
naked when half-grown, and should therefore be hatched as 
early in the spring as possible. 

The cross between the Pheasant-Malay and the Spanish pro- 



212 THE SPANISH FOWL. 

duces a particularly handsome Fowl, and probably very mncli 
resembling the old Hispanic type. 

A Black Spanish Cock has been taught to visit the sill of 
his master's bed-room window every morning, and continue 
crowing till he was rewarded with a piece of bread. 

Mr. Barber subsequently adds, ^' The tufted Fowls I had 
from Spain have uot proved such good layers as the speckled 
single-combed. I have kept a correct account this season 
(1848) of the number of Eggs I have had from them, and it 
amounts to above fourteen hundred, and they are still (Sept. 
11th) laying. I began the season with twenty-three Hens. 
One has reared a brood of Chickens. Two died early in the 
season. This is a much larger number than I have ever had 
from any of the Blacl- Spanish I have kept. There is one 
great imperfection in these Fowls, which I think it right to 
mention, and that is, I have lost nine from laying, or rather, 
attempting to lay, soft Eggs, and they have all been Hens 
which laid the largest Eggs. However, I am inclined to think 
this is in a great measure ©wing to the confined space in which 
they are kept." There is no doubt of it, and that the evil 
would cease were the Hens indulged with a more extended 
range, where they could help themselves to chalky earth, lime- 
rubbish, and other natural medicines that are perhaps unsus- 
pected by us. Nor have towns -people an idea of the intense 
longing which their Fowls feel for any thing green, such as 
cabbage-leaves, tiu-nip tops, and so on. The thousand-headed 
cabbage is very serviceable for them ; and those who have only 
a small garden can provide some supply of green food for their 
poultry, by having the edgings of parsley, instead of box, or 
thrift. The Fowls are very f^d of it, as a variation from 
cabbage-leaves. 

We cannot too much insist upon the value of early Pullets 
for laying purposes in the autumn and winter after they are 
hatched. No Fowls can surpass the Spanish in this respect. 



T II E S P A N I H 11 F O W L. 213 

A corrcHpondent (J. S. W.) believes that they arc also more 
precocious in their constitution, and that, in consequence, the 
i'ullets lay at an earlier age than those of other breeds. lie 
ha/1 two Jilack Spanish Pullets which were hatched on the 2d 
of February, and commenced laying on the 18th and 19th of 
the July following, and hcpt it up throv/jh, tJui vyinUr. The 
constant use of a memorandum-book would fix many of these 
interesting little fects. It would be useful to institute a com- 
jKitition between different breeds. An experiment with a lot 
of Chickens of distinct varieties, hatched on the same flay, and 
reared in the same yard under the same treatment, would be 
instructive, if the results were noted. 

There is a large breed of Fowls brought from Constantinople 
and the shores of the Ulack Sea. I have had no opportunity 
of seeing specimens, but it would appear to be a branch of the 
Spanish. The Hens are described as having a large flaccid 
comb, flapping about like a piece of serrated red velvet, and as 
being astonishing layers, seldom sitting. It is a speculation 
whether the Spanish came to us from the East, southwards, 
via the lilack Sea, while the Polish might reach us overland 
through Russia. 



214 



CHAPTER Xin. 

THE GAME FOWL. 

Of all the varieties of Domestic Fowls^ except, perhaps, the 
Smooth-legged Bantam, the G-ame Fowl is the most symmetri- 
cal. It is more slender in the body, the neck, the bill, and the 
legs, than other kinds, and the various hues of the plumage are 
more brilliant and showy. Their flesh is white, compact, — like 
that of the race-horse as compared with the scrub, — delicate, 
and very nutritious ; but the extreme difficulty of rearing the 
Chickens, owing to their natural pugnacity, which shows it- 
self at a very early period, deters most breeders, excepting 
those who breed for the cock-pit. " Whole broods, scarcely 
feathered, are sometimes stone-blind from fighting, to the very 
smallest individuals : the rival couples moping in corners, and 
renewing their battles on obtaining the first ray of light.'' 
The game Eggs are rather smaller than common, but finely- 
shaped, and extremely rich and delicate. The weight of this 
Fowl is from 3i to 5 J lbs., though I have heard of 8 lbs., and 
my friend, Wm. Wistar, Esq., near Germantown, assures me 
that he has a Game Cock, thorough-bred, that now weighs 
9 J lbs. The practice of fighting Cocks is supposed to be of 
Grecian origin. It was adopted by the Romans about 470 
years before the Christian era. For the gratification of the 
curious in this matter, I will extract, from a work recently 
published in Ireland, the following account of Cocking : — 

It is not particularly known when the pitched battle was 




'■#• 'l/il/ln!' 



/ / 



THE GAME FOWL. 215 

first introduced into England. We have no notice of Cock- 
figbting earlier than the reign of Henry II. William Fitz- 
Stephen describes it, then, as the sport of school-boys, on 
Shrove Tuesday ; the theatre was the school, and the school- 
master, it seems, was the controller and director of the sport. 
The practice was prohibited in the 39th of Edward III., but 
became general under Henry VIII., who was personally 
attached to it, and established the cock-pit at Whitehall, to 
bring it more into credit. James the First was so remarkably 
fond of it, that, according to Monsieur de la Bodenie, who was 
ambassador for Henry IV. to the king, he constantly amused 
himself with it twice a week. Under Elizabeth, it was not 
less in vogue, and the learned Roger Ascham then favoured 
the world with a treatise on the subject. There was then a 
pit in Drury-lane, Ilorscferry-road, and Gray's-Inn-lanc, St. 
James's Park, and another in Jewin-street ; but the practice 
was a second time prohibited, by an act under the Protector- 
ship, in 1554. Our Dublin pits are of a more recent date, the 
principal of which were in Clarendon-street and Essex-street, 
where the Meaths and Kildares often proved the powers of 
their Cocks. The fights were managed by men, who made a 
livelihood by it, and were called handlers : they alone were 
admissible within the " magic circle." 

A cock-pit, like a race-course, in a sporting point of view, 
was for every person, and selection of company was entirely 
out of the question. The noble lord, and the needy commoner, 
were both at home, after they had paid their iij) for admis- 
sion J and persons who enter the pit to sport a crown^ bet a 
sovereign, or put down their pounds, are too much interested 
upon the main, to consider who they may choose to " ruh 
against" for the time being. 

Cocking was kept up with great spirit at Newcastle. At one 
of their last meetings, the cockers at the above place, in point 
of extent, exceeded every thing of the kind known in Great 



216 THE GAME FOWL. 

Britain. Upwards of 200 Cocks were fought, and the fight- 
ing generally good, particularly the Cocks of Baglin-hill and 
Lockey, which all won great majorities. A remarkable cir- 
cumstance occurred on the Saturday before fighting. A match 
was made for 20 sovereigns, between Parker and Reed, feed- 
ers, and won by the latter, after a hard contest. Parker's 
Cock, however, came round so soon after, that his party made 
a second match, to come off on the following Monday, for a 
like sum, which was again won by E-eed, after a severe battle 
— ^a circumstance, perhaps, altogether unknown in the annals 
of cocking. It is also calculated that, at the termination of 
the races, which finished with cocking, upwards of 1,000 Cocks 
had met their deaths. Newcastle, therefore, challenged the 
world for cocking. Cheltenham, Chester, Grloucester, Nor- 
wich, Lancaster, Preston, Stamford, &c. &c., were celebrated 
for their Cocks. The patrons were the Earl of Derby, Sir 
"William Wynne, Ralph Benson, Esq., &c. &c. 

The exterior qualifications of a Cock are, head thin and long, 
or, if not, very taper -, a large, full eye j beak crooked and 
stout; neck thick and long, (a Cock with a long neck has a 
great advantage in his battle, particularly if his antagonist is 
one of those Cocks that will fight at no other place but the 
head;) his body short and compact, with a round breast, (as a 
sharp-breasted Cock carries a great deal of useless weight about 
him, and never has a fine forehand ;) his thighs fine and thick, 
and placed well up to the shoulder, (for where a Cock's legs 
hang dangling behind him, be assured he never can maintain 
a long battle ;) his legs long and thick, and if they correspond 
with the colour of his beak — blue, gra^^, or yellow — I think it 
a perfection ; his feet should be broad and thin, with very long 
claws. With regard to his carriage, he should be upright, but 
not stiffly so ; his walk should be stately, with his wings in 
some measure extended, and not plod along, as I have seen 
some Cocks do, with their wings upon their backs, like geese ; 



THE GAME FOWL. 217 

his colour rather gray, yellow, or rose, with black breast; his 
spurs rough, long, and looking inward. As to the colour he 
is of, it is immaterial ; there are good Cocks of all colours ; 
but he should be thin of feathers, short, and very hard, which 
is another proof of his being healthy. Remember that a 
Cock, with all his stoutness, length, and thickness of leg, 
rotundity of breast, " fine forehand,^^ firmness of neck, and ex- 
tent of wing, ought not to weigh more than 4 lb. 8 or 10 oz. ; 
if he happen to have an ounce or two more in his composition, 
he is out of the pale of the pit, and is excluded by all match- 
makers, from " fighting within the articles." A bird, to be a 
bird, ^^ fit for the white bag, the trimmed wing, the mat, and 
the silver spur," must be light upon the leg, light-fleshed, and 
large-boned, but still no more than 4 lb. 8 or 10 oz. 

A cock-pit was a large, lofty, circular building, with seats 
rising, as in an amphitheatre ; in the middle of it was a round, 
matted stage, of about 18 or 20 feet in diameter, and rimmed 
with an edge, eight or ten inches in height, to keep the Cocks 
from falling over in their combats ; there was a chalk ring in 
the centre of the matted stage, of perhaps a yard diameter, 
and another chalk-mark within it, much smaller, which was 
intended for the setting-to, when the shattered birds were so 
enfeebled as to have no power of making hostile advances to* 
wards each other. This inner mark admitted of their being 
placed beak to beak. A large and rude branched candlestick 
was suspended low down, immediately over the mat, which 
was used at the night-battles. The birds were weighed and 
matched, and then marked and numbered; the descriptions 
were carefully set down, in order that the Cock should not be 
changed ; the lightest Cocks fought first in order. The key 
of the pens, in which the Cocks were set and numbered, was 
left on the weighing-table, or the opposite party might, if he 
pleased, put a lock on the door. The utmost possible care, in 
short, was taken, that the matched birds should fight, and no 



2IS THE GAME FOWL. 

substitutes intruded. The follotoing sketch of a set-to j is from 
the pen of a celebrated amateur : — 

The only persons allowed on the platform are the setters-to. 
The first I shall name Nash, the younger ; he was followed by 
a stout, plump, old, ostler-looking man, named Nash, the elder. 
This person carried a white bag, containing one of the brave 
birds for the battle. The two men stepped upon the mat ; the 
hubbub is instantaneous — " Two to one on Nash" — " A guinea 
on Nash" — " Nash a crown f the bets are laid on the setter- 
to. From the opposite side of the pit, a similar procession 
entered ; the setter-to, Fleming, by name, did not appear so 
great a favourite as young Nash. The chuckle of the Cock in 
his bag was answered deeply and savagely from the other, 
and the straw seemed spurned in the narrow cell. 

Nash's bag was carefully untied, and Nash himself took out 
one of the handsomest birds I think I ever beheld ; he was a 
red and black bird ; slim, masculine, trimmed, yet with feath- 
ers glossy, as though the sun shone only on his nervous wings ; 
his neck arose out of the bag, snake-like — terrible — as if it 
would stretch upwards to the ceiling ; his body followed — com- 
pact, strong, and beautiful; and his long, dark-blue, sinewy 
legs came forth — clean, handsome, shapely, determined, iron- 
like I The silver spur was on each heel, of an inch and a half 
in length, tied on in the most delicate and neat manner ; his 
large, vigorous beak showed aquiline, eagle-like ; and his black, 
dilating eyes took in all around him, and shone so intensely 
brilliant, that they looked like jewels j their light was that of 
thoughtful, sedate, and savage courage ; his comb was cut close; 
his neck trimmed ; his wings clipped, pointed, and strong ; the 
feathers on his back were of the very glossiest red, and ap- 
peared to be the only ones which were left untouched ; the tail 
was docked triangle-ways, like a hunter's. The gallant bird 
clucked defiance, and looked as if he " had in him something 
dangerous V Nash gave him to Fleming, who held him up 



THE GAME FOWL. 219 

above his head, examined his beak, his wings, his legs, while 
a person read to him the description of the bird from paper ; 
and upon finding all correct, he delivered the rich, feathered 
warrior back to Nash, and proceeded to produce his own bird 
for a similar examination. 

But I must speak of the senior Nash — the old man, the 
feeder. When again may I have an opportunity of describing 
him ? and what ought a paper upon cocking be accounted worth, 
if it fail to contain some sketch, however slight, of old Nash ? 
He wore a smock-frock, and was clumsily, though potently 
built, his shoulders being ample, and of a rotundity resembling 
a wool-pack ; his legs were not equal to his bulk ; he was un- 
conversational, almost to a fault, and never made even the 
slightest remark that did not appertain to Cocks or cocking ; 
his narrow, damp, colourless eye, twinkled a cold satisfaction 
when a bird of promise made good work on the mat, and some- 
times, though seldom, he was elevated into the proffer of a 
moderate bet; but generally he leaned over the rails of a small 
gallery, running parallel with the coop, and, stooping attentively 
towards the pit, watched the progress of the battle. I re- 
marked he was extremely like a Cock — old Nash's beaked 
nose, drawn close down, over his mouth ; his red forehead and 
gills; his round body; and blue, thin legs; and his silver- 
gray, scanty, feathery hair, lying like a plume over his head, 
all proved him Cock-like. This man, thought I, has been 
cooped up in pens, or penned up in coops, until he has become 
shaped, coloured, mannered like the bird he has been feeding. 
I should scarcely have been surprised, if told, that old Nash 
crowed when the light first dawned of a summer's morning. 
I warrant he pecked bread and milk to some tune, and, per- 
haps, slept upon a perch ! But Fleming lifted his bird from 
the bag, and my whole mind was directed his way : this was a 
yellow-bodied, black-winged, handsome Cock, seemingly rather 
slight, but elastic and muscular ; he was restless at the sight 



220 T H E G A M E F O W L. 

of his antagonist, but quite silent ; and old Nash examined him 
most carefully, by the paper, and delivered him up to Flem- 
ing, upon finding him answer to his description. The setters- 
to then smoothed their birds, and handled them, wetted their 
fingers, and moistened their bandaged ankles, where the spurs 
were fostened ; held them up opposite to each other, and then 
pampered their courage and prepared them for combat. 



THE FIGHT. 

The mat was cleared of all persons except Fleming and 
young Nash ; the betting went on vociferously ; the setters-to 
taunted the birds with each other's presence — allowed them to 
strike at each other at a distance — put them on the mat facing 
each other — encouraged and fed their crowing and mantling, 
until they were nearly dangerous to hold, and then loosened 
them ascainst each other, for the fatal fij^ht. 

The first terrific dart into attitude was, indeed, strikingly 
grand and beautiful ; and the wary sparring, watching, dodg- 
ing for the first cut, was extremely curious. They were beak- 
point to beak-point, until they dashed up into one tremendous 
flirt, mingling their powerful, rustling wings, and nervous 
heels, in one furious, confused mass. The leap, the fire, the 
passion of strength, certa minis (j/audia, were fierce and loud : 
the parting was another kind of thing, every way. I can com- 
pare the sound of the first flight to nothing less than that of a 
wet umbrella forced suddenly open. The separation was death- 
like : the yellow, or rather the ginger bird, staggered out of 
the close, drooping, dismantled, bleeding : he was struck. 

Fleming and Nash severally took their birds, examined them 
for a moment, and then set them again opposite to each other. 
The handling of the Cocks was as delicate as if they had been 
made of foam, froth, or any perishable matter. Fleming's 
bii'd staggered towards his opponent, but he was hit dreadfully, 



THE GAME FOWL. 221 

and ran like a drunken man — tottering on his breast, sinking 
back his tail — while Nash's, full of fire and irritated courage, 
gave the finishing stroke, that clove every particle of life in 
twain. The brave bird thus killed, dropped at once from the 
"gallant bearing, and proud mien,'' to the relaxed, draggled, 
motionless object that lay in bleeding ruin on the mat. I sighed 
and looked thoughtful, when the tumult of the betters startled 
me into a consciousness of the scene at which I was present. 

The victor Cock was carried by me in all his pride, slightly 
scarred, but evidently made doubly fierce and muscular, by 
the short encounter he had been engaged in. He seemed to 
have grown double the size : his eyes were larger. 

The paying backward and forward of money, won and lost, 
occupied the time until the two Nashes again descended with 
another Cock. 

Sometimes the first blow was fatal, at another time the con- 
test was long and doubtful, and the Cocks showed all the ob- 
stinate courage, weariness, distress, and breathlessness, which 
mark the struggle of experienced pugilists. I saw the beak 
open, the tongue palpitate, the wing drag on the mat : I no- 
ticed the legs tremble, and the body topple over upon the 
breast ; the eye grow dim, and even a perspiration break out 
upon the feathers of the back. When the battle lasted long, 
and the Cocks lay helpless near or upon each other, one of the 
feeders counted ten and the birds were separated and set-to 
at the chalk. If the beaten bird does not fight while forty is 
counted, and the other pecks or shows signs of battle, the 
former is declared conquered. 

The Cocks were the next object of curiosity. A covering 
was hung before each pen, so that I heard rather than saw the 
Cocks ; but it was feeding time, and I beheld innumerable 
rocky beaks, and sparkling eyes at work in the troughs ; and 
the stroke of the beak, in taking up the barley, was like the 

19* 



222 T H E G A M E r W L. 

knock of a manly knuckle on the table. Old Nasli was mix- 
ing bread and milk for his feathered family. 

Now hear what Mr. Dixon says concerning the Game Cock : 
— The G-ame Cock is by no means the aggressive, sanguinary 
tyrant that he is commonly represented to be. He will sub- 
mit to no insult or intrusion within his own domain; but 
neither does he offer any unprovoked assault. If his antago- 
nist flee, he is satisfied, and does not pursue him in order to 
perpetrate any bloody revenge. Other poultry that are killed 
by Game Cocks, generally draw down the punishment upon 
themselves, by their own impudent and continued aggression. 
The bird, too, is as enduring of pain as he is bold in combat. 
We were compelled, to prevent mischief, by amputating the 
spurs of a Game Cock : he bore the operation, and the subse- 
quent application of hot iron to prevent bleeding, without a 
sound or a murmur ; and when set down in the midst of his 
Hens, was as lofty and imperious in his carriage as ever. 
''Avis pugnax,'' ''the pugnacious bird," is a term applied by 
Aldrovandi, not to fighting Cocks, but to Ruffs and Reeves. 
A false notion of their savage disposition is also derived from 
the sight of the sparrings of the half-grown chickens : but the 
Pullets will indulge in this game as well as the Cockerels. It 
is very rarely that mischief is meant by such tiltings. We 
might remember that the play of all young animals is a sham- 
fight. Young Lambs run races to obtain possession of a hil- 
lock, from which the strongest will rebut the weak. Puppies 
snarl, and growl, and snap, and struggle, all in perfect good- 
nature. Kittens will roll over each other, and grapple, and 
show in sport the best method of disembowelling an enemy 
with their hind claws, if one of the playmates were but a rat. 
Even boys can play at French and English ; and a couple of 
Cockerels will often stand beak to beak, making two or three 
jumps with outstretched neck and ruffled hackle, but with no 



THE GAME FOWL. 223 

more evil intention (for the present) than many a gentleman 
when he sets to his partner in a quadrille. 

Sir W. Hooker gives a very pleasing instance of animal 
skirmishing, which he observed while making his tour in Ice- 
land : — 

<' Had I been the only person to witness the following cir- 
cumstance concerning the Dogs in Iceland, I should scarcely 
have ventured to relate the anecdote ; but my scruples are 
removed, as, so far from this having been the case, I was not 
even the first who saw it ; for Mr. Browning, an officer of the 
Talbot, whose ill-health confined him to a room on shore, called 
my attention to it, by more than once remarking to me that 
he had, from his window, in the morning of several successive 
days, observed, at a certain hour, a number of Dogs assemble 
near his house, as if by a previously concerted arrangement, 
and, after performing a sort of sham-fight for some time, dis- 
perse and return to their homes. A desire to be an eye-wit- 
ness of so singular a fact, led me to go to this gentleman's 
room one morning, just as these animals were about to collect. 
The spot they frequented was across the river, which there are 
but two ways of passing from the town without swimming, 
the one a bridge, the other some stepping-stones, each situated 
at a small distance from the other. By both these approaches 
to the field, the Dogs belonging to Reikevig were running with 
the greatest speed, while their companions of the neighbouring 
country were hastening to the place of rendezvous from other 
quarters. We counted twenty-five of them, not all of the true 
Icelandic stock, (the Fiaar-huundar,^ but some of different 
kinds, which had probably been brought to the country by the 
Danes ; and I presume it was one of these, much larger and 
stronger than the rest, who placed himself upon an eminence 
in the centre of the crowd. In a few seconds, three or four 
of them left the main body, and ran to the distance of thirty 
or forty yards, where they skirmished in a sort of sham-battle; 



224 THEGAMEFOWL. 

after which one or two of these returned, and one, two, or 
three others immediately took their places ; party succeeding 
party, till most, if not all, had had their share in the sport. 
The captain remained stationary. The engagement was in 
this manner kept up by different detachments, the Dogs con- 
tinuing their amusement in playfulness and good humour, 
though not without much barking and noise, for about a 
quarter of an hour, when the whole of them dispersed, and 
took the way to their respective homes in a less hasty manner 
than they had arrived." 

Allowing for the inferior intelligence of Fowls, many of the 
gambols of chickens are similar to this. The Cock of the 
Walk never interferes with such harmless frolics, which he 
would do if they threatened any thing serious. Were I to 
compare the temperament of Game Fowls with that of the 
human race, I should say they had not one atom of the lym- 
phatic in their composition, but a happy combination of the 
sanguine and the nervous. The Game breed, among Fowls, 
has been likened to the Arabian, among Horses. Their frame 
is compacted of solid flesh and gristle : even the feathers of 
the Game Cock (excepting the standards and the hackle) fit 
very tightly and closely to the body of the bird, giving it, 
when in high condition, a sort of crustaceous or even ena- 
melled appearance, as if it were a piece of living Japan-work. 

But though we wish to clear the Game breeds from the 
charge of blood-thirsty cruelty, we cannot hold them out as 
patterns of gentleness and forbearance. Might, with them, 
makes right. None but the brave, however well they may 
deserve, or how much soever they may long for, are likely to 
enjoy, any favour from the present class of rusty-fusty coloured 
beauties. Quiet people, unless they have studied Phrenology, 
or kept Game Fowls, have little idea how close a connexion • 
there is said to be between love and murder. But the ladies 
have long found it out ; there is no sweetheart like a soldier. 



tm: game fowl. - 225 

A constantly pacific male is despicable in their eyes. " Eh ! 
si je veux qu'il me batte !" " If I choose my husband to beat 
me, what business is that of 7/ours ? A pretty state of things, 
when a woman may not permit her own husband to beat her !'* 
So wrote the great Moliere, in the high-heeled, periwigged 
reign of Louis XIV. But civilized and uncivilized nature is 
alike. The southern she-savage, when her brute lifts his 
waddy to give her a tap on the head that would fell an Eng- 
lish ox, bows thankfully to receive the caress on her indurated 
noddle, and triumphs that the compliment was not bestowed 
upon" either of the other squaws. Here are some like doings 
in chivalrous Spain : — 

" There was a burly, savage-looking fellow, of about forty, 
whose conduct was atrocious ; he sat with his wife, or perhaps 
concubine, at the door of a room which opened upon the court : 
he was continually venting horrible and obscene oaths, both 
in Spanish and Catalan. The woman was remarkably hand 
some, but robust, and seemingly as savage as himself; her 
conversation, likewise, was as frightful as his own. Both 
seemed to be under the influence of an incomprehensible fury. 
At last, upon some observation from the woman, he started 
up, and drawing a long knife from his girdle, stabbed at her 
naked bosom ; she, however, interposed the palm of her hand, 
which was much cut. He stood for a moment viewing the 
blood trickling upon the ground, whilst she held up her 
wounded hand, then, with an astounding oath, he hurried up 
the court to the Plaza. I went up to the woman and said, 
^What is the cause of this? I hope the ruffian has not 
seriously injured you/ She turned her countenance upon me 
with the glance of a demon, and, at last, with a sneer of con- 
tempt, exclaimed, '■Carols, que es esoP' ^Cannot a Catalan 
gentleman be conversing with his lady upon their own private 
affairs, without being interrupted by you ?' She then bound 
up her hand with a handkerchief, and, going into the room, 



22^ THE C. A ME F O^L. 

brought a small table to tlio door, on whioli she placed several 
things, as if for the eveuiug repast, and then sat down on a 
stool; presently returned the Catalan, and, without a word, took 
his seat on the threshold ; then, as if nothing had occurred, 
the extraordinary couple commenced eating and drinking, 
interlarding their meal with oaths and jests." — Borroics Bible 
in S})ain, vol. ii. p. 53. The lady was as submissive, as affec- 
tionate, and withal as petulant, as the Game Hen, on whom 
her lord bestows three or four sharp pecks, in punishment for 
ill-behaviour. We are conscious that we ai'e now decidedly 
wandering ; but, as a relief from the descriptiivn of quill- 
feathers and the weight of Egg's, must really give an addi- 
tional instance of the compatibility of even friendship with 
slaughter. 

" In the course of the day, our men went down to a small 
brook, which flowed between the opposing armies, for water ; 
and French and English soldiers might be seen drinking out 
of the same narrow stream, and even leaning over to shake 
hands with each other. One private, of ni}- own regiment, 
actually exchanged forage-caps with a soldier of the enemy, 
as a token of regard and good-will. Such courtesies, if they 
do not disguise, at least soften the horrid features of war ; and 
it is thus we learn to reconcile our minds to scenes of blood 
and carnage." — HecoUectiom of the Peninsula, p. 110. 

'' It was a strange thing to see, in the crowded wards of the 
hospital, English and French soldiei-s lying helplessly side by 
side, or here and there performing little kind offices for each 
other, with a willing and a cheerful air. Their wants and 
thoughts, I observed, they communicated to each other in 
phrases of Spanish, which language many of the French pri- 
vates spoke lluently, and our men understood well enough for 
all common purposes." — Id. p. 16S. 

Game Cocks are led on to battle by blind instinct, and have 
no higher directing principle. Shall we men ever retain the 



THE GAME F W L. 227 

virtue of friendship, and abolifili the act of slaughter? Or 
would the abolition of bloody warfare be succeeded by some 
more villainous mode of gaining pre-eminence over each other? 

As to Cock-fighting, I must believe it to have been made 
the theme of much ignorant cant. Hawking is a noble and 
honourable pastime ; Cock-fighting is low and disgraceful. I 
have never seen a Cock-fight, and probably never shall. From 
what one has heard and read, it must be most exciting sport ; 
but people who are proud of Waterloo, who dine off hunted 
hare, and breakfast on shrimps that have been boiled alive, 
allude to it with horror, as an atrocity incredible and unmen- 
tionable. Cocks, however, must die. Would a Cock that had 
been fought, be worse eating than a hare that had been hunted ? 
And as to the mode of death, — ask a Cock which he would 
choose, — to be hung up by the heels, and have the cook run 
a knife up his throat, taking care that he bleed long, and die 
slowly, in order that his flesh may be so much the nicer and 
whiter, — or, to be set face to face with his adversary, and fight 
for his life ! — if he win, to be petted and praised ; if he fall, 
to have his existence cut short by one sharp, merciful thrust, 
instead of the lingering fuintnoss of a culinary departure? 
The combat is a pleasure ; the survivorship, a fair chance. 

But Cock-fights v/ere shamefully barbarous; they made 
people so hard-hearted and unfeeling, and gave rise to so much 
gambling : and as we have now no smooth-faced villains, nor 
any lying, double-tongued, intri;j,uing robbers in the country; 
as we never now get rid of rivals, or people that stand in our 
way, by hunting them to death with persecution and calumny; 
secret poisoning, also, and infanticide, being unsuspected 
amongst us ; above all, as gambling and swindling, of what- 
ever kind, is utterly abolished, particularly in London and 
some neighbouring towns, such as Epsom, it will be a great 
pity if ever another Game Fowl is hatched in England — the 
poultry sent to market being so much more humanely put to 



228 THE GAME FOWL. 

death : although one does see a few thorough-bred birds now 
and then, and hears faint rumours of an occasional amicable 
trial of strength.* 

There is a very graphic account of a main, conducted secun- 
dum artem in by-gone days, to be found in Blaine's " Rural 
Sports/' But Cock-fighting is of older date than modern 
fashionable refinement, and may possibly survive it. ^' The 
Alexandrians," says Statius, quoted by the Quarterly Review, 
" were indiflferent soldiers, but the best of singers, and only 
surpassed by their compatriots, the Alexandrian fighting Cocks, 
as an appendage to Rouian supper-parties.'' "We have heard 
of a nobleman of the old school having a few couple of Cocks 
up into the drawing-room, as an agreeable interruption to the 
tiresome rubbers of whist. But before noblemen and their 



* I am informed that, iu certain places in Warwicksliire, and in 
the adjoining county of Staffordshii'e, the effects of Cock-fighting 
still continue to be impoverishing, demoralizing, and degrading to 
its followers, clothing them and their families in rags. It is no un- 
common thing, among the working people of that district, to stake 
the whole of their week's hard earnings upon a single fight. What 
must be the wretchedness and misery brought upon the families thus 
depi'ived of their only means of subsistence? Cock-fighting, with 
these results, is a terrible evil, for other reasons than mere senti- 
mental talk about its cruelty. People can go and see a poor girl, or 
a reckless man, whom they believe to be endoAved with immortal 
souls, daily expose themselves to be destroyed in a moment by lions 
and tigers, but they are too delicate to witness the shedding of a 
Cock's blood. It is the gambling which is the great immorality ; of 
coxirse, the assembling of so many low characters must be dangerous 
to the well-being of society. But the local magistrates surely have 
power, if they choose to exert it, of legally putting down such gam- 
bling, and preventing such assemblies ; and the police would be 
better employed in preventing such ruinous infringements of the law, 
than in many of the cases on which they try their 'prentice hand, in 
a desperate effort to obtain their maiden conviction. 



THE GAME FOWL. 229 

drawing-rooms were invented hereabouts, these little turns-up 
were unthinkingly made a source of amusement. Read what 
an observant traveller, and really estimable man, who could 
not himself have been deficient in courage, either physical or 
moral, has recorded : 

"The most ancient, but certainly not the most innocent 
game among the Tahitians, was the faatito-raamoa, literally, 
the causing fighting among Fowls, or Cock-fighting. The Ta- 
hitians do not appear to have staked any property, or laid any 
bets, on their favourite birds, but to have trained and fought 
them for the sake of the gTatification they derived from be- 
holding them destroy each other. Long before the first foreign 
vessel was seen ofi" their shores, they were accustomed to train 
and fight their birds. The Fowls designed for fighting were 
fed with great care ; a finely-carved fatapua, or stand, was 
made as a perch for the birds. This was planted in the house, 
and the bird fastened to it by a piece of curious cinct, braided 
flat, that it might not injure the leg. No other substance would 
have been secure against the attacks of his beak. Their food 
was chiefly poe, or bruised bread-fruit, rolled up in the hand, 
like paste, and given in small pieces. The Fowl was taught 
to open his mouth to receive his food and his water, which was 
poured from his master's hand. It was customary to sprinkle 
water over these birds to refresh them. The natives were 
universally addicted to this sport. The inhabitants of one 
district often matched their birds against those of another divi- 
sion. They do not appear to have entertained any predi- 
lection for particular colour in the Fowls, but seem to have 
esteemed all alike. They never trimmed any of the feathers, 
but were proud to see them with heavy wings, full-feathered 
necks, and long tails. They also accustomed them to fight 
without artificial spurs, or other means of injury. In order 
that the birds might be as fresh as possible, they fought them 
early in the morning, soon after day-break, while the air was 

20 



230 THEGAMEFOWL. 

cool, and before they became languid from the heat. More 
than two were seldom engaged at once, and so soon as one bird 
avoided the other, he was considered as vi, or beaten. Victory 
was declared in favour of his opponent, and they were imme- 
diately parted. This amusement was sometimes continued for 
several days successively.^' — Ellis's Polynesian Researches^ 
vol. i. p. 302. 

It would appear from Mr. Ellis, that there are innate ideas 
in the human understanding, one of which is Cock-fighting. 
The Tahitians manifest their simplicity in fighting for love, not 
for money. Other barbarians show themselves to be more 
sophisticated. 

'^Throughout every rank of the people of Sumatra there 
prevails a strong spirit of gaming. Cock-fighting they are still 
more passionately addicted to, and it is indulged to them under 
certain regulations. Where they are perfectly independent, 
their propensity to it is so great, than it resembles rather a se- 
rious occupation than a sport. You seldom meet a man tra- 
velling in the country, without a Cock under his arm, and some- 
times fifty in a company, when there is a himha.ng in one of 
the neighbouring villages. A countryman coming down, on 
any occasion, to the qualloe, or mouth of the river, if he boast 
the least degree of spirit, must not be unprovided with this 
token of it. They often game high at their meetings ; par- 
ticularly when a superstitious faith in the invincibility of their 
bird has been strengthened by past success. An hundred 
Spanish dollars is no very uncommon risk, and instances have 
occurred of a father staking his children or wife, and a son his 
mother or sisters, on the issue of a battle when a run of ill-luck 
has stripped them of property, and rendered them desperate. 
Quarrels, attended with dreadful consequences, have often arisen 
on these occasions. 

" By their customs, there are four umpires appointed to de- 
termine on all disputed points in the course of the battles, and 



THE GAME FOWL. - 231 

from their decision there lies no appeal, except the Gothic ap- 
peal to the sword. A person losing, and who has not the ability 
to pay, is immediately proscribed, departs with disgrace, and is 
[never again suffered to appear at the galangang. This cannot 
with propriety be translated, a Cock-pity as it is generally a 
spot on the level ground, or a stage erected and covered in. It 
is inclosed with railing which keeps oflF the spectators ] none 
but the handlers and heelers being admitted withinside. A 
man who has a high opinion of and regard for his Cock, will 
not fight him under a certain number of dollars, which he 
places in order on the floor; his poor adversary is perhaps 
unable to deposit above one-half: the standers-by make up the 
sum, and receive their dividends in proportion, if successful. 
A father, at his death-bed, has been known to desire his son 
to take the first opportunity of matching a certain Cock, for a 
sum equal to his whole property, under a blind conviction that 
he was hetooah, or invulnerable. 

" Cocks of the same colour are never matched, but a grey 
against a pile, a yellow against a red, or the like. This might 
have been originally designed to prevent disputes, or knavish 
impositions. The Malay breed of Cocks is much esteemed by 
connoisseurs who have had an opportunity of trying them. 
G-reat pains is taken in the rearing and feeding ; they are fre- 
quently handled, and accustomed to spar in public, in order to 
prevent any shyness. Contrary to our laws, the owner is 
allowed to take up and handle his Cock during the battle ; to 
clear his eye of a feather, or his mouth of blood. When a Cock 
is killed, or runs, the other "must have sufficient spirit and 
vigour left to peck at him three times, on his being held to 
him for that purpose,- or it becomes a drawn battle ; and some- 
times an experienced cocker will place the head of his van- 
quished bird in such an uncouth posture, as to terrify the other, 
and render him unable to give this proof of victory. The 
Cocks are never trimmed, but matched in full feather. The 



232 THE GAME F O W L. 

artificial spur used in Sumatra, resembles in shape the blade 
of a scimetar, and proves a more destructive weapon than the 
European spur. It has no socket, but is tied to the leg, and 
in the position of it the nicetv of the match is regulated. As, 
in horse-racing, weight is proportioned to inches, so, in cocking, 
a bird of superior size and weight is brought to an equality 
with his adversary, by fixing the steel spur so many scales of 
the leg above the natural spur, and thus obliging him to fight 
with a degree of disadvantage. It rarely happens that both 
Cocks survive the combat. 

*' In the northern parts of the island, where gold-dust is the 
common medium of gambling, as well as of trade, so much is 
accidently dropped in weighing and delivering, that at some 
Cock-pits, where the resort of people is great, the sweepings 
are said, probably with exaggeration, to be worth upwards of a 
thousand dollai*s per annum to the owner of the ground ; be- 
sides his profit o{ tvro fanams ^fivepence) for each battle. 

" In some places they match quails, in the manner of Cocks. 
These fight with great inveteracy, and endeavour to seize each 
other by the tongue. The Achenese bring also into combat 
the dial-bird (moon) which resembles a small magpie, but has 
an agreeable, though imperfect note. They sometimes engage 
one another on the wing, and di-op to the ground in the struggle." 
— JfarsJen's Sistori/ of Sumatra j pp. 236-8. London, ITSo. 

This exti-aordinary account is not without the confirmation 
which it needs : — 

" The Indians, (of 3IaniUa,) in common with aU Malays, are 
passionately fond of Cock-fighting, but they are not permitted 
to indulge at pleasure this inclination. An Indian rarely 
walks out without a Cock, and as soon as he meets another In- 
dian with one under his arm, the two birds are set down, and 
immediately engage : but battles with steel spurs are only 
permitted in a place formed for the purpose, which is farmed 
fi-om the king, at a rent of twenty or twenty-five thousand 



THE GAME FOWL. 233 

dollars : here the Indians assemble, and frequently bet on their 
favourite Cocks the whole of what they are worth. The fate 
of the gamesters is soon decided, for the Cocks being armed 
with sharp spurs, one or the other is killed almost in an in- 
stant.'' — De Guiyne's Observations on the Philippine Islands. 

But abstinence from Cock-fighting sometimes meets with its 
reward : 

'^ The fort (at Achin) was but sorrily governed when I was 
there ; nor was there that care taken to keep a fair corre- 
spondence with the natives in the neighbourhood as I think 
ought to be, in all trading places especially. When I came 
thither there were two neighbouring Rajas in the stocks, for 
no other reason but because they had not brought down to the 
fort such a quantity of pepper as the governor had sent for. 
Yet these Rajas rule in the country, and have a considerable 
number of subjects, who were so exasperated at these inso- 
lences, that, as I have since been informed, they came down 
and assaulted the fort, under the conduct of one of these Rajas. 
But the fort, as bad as it is, is guarded enough against such 
indifferent soldiers as they are : who, though they have courage 
enough, yet scarce any arms besides back-swords, cressets, and 
lances, nor skill to use artillery, if they had it. At another 
time they made an attempt to surprise the fort, under pretence 
of a Cock-match ; to which they hoped the garrison would come 
out, to share in the sport, and so the fort left with small de- 
fence. For the Malayans here are great lovers of Cock-fight- 
ing, and there were about one thousand of them got together 
about this match, while their armed men lay in ambush. But 
it so happened that none of the garrison went out to the Cock- 
match, but one John Neclin, a Dame, who was a great gamester 
himself; and he, discovering the ambush, gave notice of it to 
the governor, who was in disorder enough upon their approach; 
but a few of the great guns drove them away.'' — Mr. Dampier's 
Voyagesj vol. ii. (Supplement.) London, mdcc. p. 184. 

20* 



i:o4 THE GAME F O W L. 

Not wisliiug, there tore, to stimulate our j-outh to Cock- 
fighting, any more than we woukl lead them to over-sensitive 
rotlnemeut or spurious huuiauity, we will give no further di- 
rections about the rearing of Oame-chicks (^although it would 
he very easy to do so) than to state that, instead of allotting 
twenty-four Hens to one Cock, in a *' ward/' too, as has been 
currently published and Ivlieved to be a good plan, one Cock, 
with two, or at most three Hens, should be quietly located at 
large, in some spot where they are secure from giving or re- 
ceiving interruption. The Cockerels three-quarters gi\>wn (^au 
example to our lads^ are not permitted to run as they choose 
with any society that ma}' offer, but are withdrawn to quiet, 
rural, jury, grassy walks, wheix' they are encouraged to scratch 
the groimd as much as they like, to increase their means of 
livelihood, and are removed from the temptation (^the possibility, 
indeed,) of having any but the most discreet femiUe society. 
Cix^ks so educated are valuable for better purposes than for 
fiirhting and Knng betted upon. They become tii-st-i*ate fathers 
of fttmilies- If a stock of Poultry is flagging and degenerate, 
the owner hardly knows why, the admission of a good Game 
Cock will soon set all to rights. His very look and air inspire 
health and cheerfulness into the dispirited Hens. He fertilizes 
the Eggs of every variety of Domestic Fowl, from the little 
Black Bantam to the portly Dorking. The issue of such 
crosses does not :ilways resemble either parent, but it is sure 
to be something pretty, useful, and thrifty. " Bad the crow, 
bad the egg,'* xaxou aeop««oj xeueov t^v. ITce rtv>\i, gv>od the 
Cock, good the Chick ; there is certainly something in breeding. 
The m:\les of almost every variety are lovely creatures, 
though tastes difier as to the preference. They do not attain 
their perfect plumage till their third year, aud perhaps increase 
in beauty for a year or two afterwards. I think I have hej\rd 
that, according to the modern rules of the Pit, birds are not 
admissible after they have attained a certain age and weight. 



THE GAME FOWL. 235 

But all thin is nothing to us. We are looking after ornamental, 
and, incidentally, uweful qualities. The red bird«, so called, 
are montly splendid and dashing in their appearance; the yel- 
low-hogged tribe are very gaudy, hright, and strongly c^^n- 
trasted, though apt to be a little under-sized; the duck-winged 
grays, so called from their iridescent wing-coverts, which re- 
mind one of the speculum in a Duck's wing, are most harmo- 
niously coloured, softly, yet brilliantly tinted, and only not 
sufficiently rare to be admired with enthusiasm. 

As before observed, it is not our present task to ent^^r into 
the minute and technical distinctions of Game Fowls. An in- 
dustrious examination of them, with good opportunities, might 
lead to very interesting conclusions. Meanwhile, we will 
print one valuable and original record, as a commencement. 

" There are evidently two varieties of the Game Fowl, if 
not more. (Assuredly.) The first, occasionally seen in the 
yard of the farmer, is a bird over the average size, and rather 
heavily formed; rather t^jo much comb ; breast quite black; 
neck, back, and wings of a very deep red; tail, glossy green. 
The Hen plain brown, with a lighter-coloured neck, sometimes 
a little streaked with ochre ; legs light-coloured or white. 

" The other variety, which I much prefer, and now possess, 
is a smaller Fowl, of a peculiarly light and elegant make ; head 
very small and fine; neck, light orange-red; breast richly 
spotted, as are, also, in a degree, the wings; back, very rich 
red ; tail, glossy greenish black ; legs, dark. Hens, brown of 
various shades, the feathers being streaked with pale ochre 
down the middle, the same as Pheasants ; comb, in the Cocks 
very small, and not large in the Hens. 

"These are most high-spirited birds, and will soon gain the 
ascendancy of any yard. The eggs are slightly tinged with 
yellow-buff, rather small, and long in shape. Hens, good layers 
and sitters. Chicks, when first hatched, exceedingly pretty, 
beiixg marked with a deep brown streak on the hea^i and neck, 



*236 THE GAME FOWL, 

that continues down the back. They are hardy little things, 
and easy to rear. How many degrees removed from the 
Pheasant this breed may he. is difficult to say, (they are as 
■widely removed as the Xorth from the South Pole, or Pogs 
from Cats, as far as relationship is concerned,) but there is 
evidently a strong ^\mily likeness. (True, if we regard natu- 
ral affinity meivly.") The Pheasants here have no objection, 
at any time, to an occasional admixture (^socially, we believe, 
not amatively^ with the Domestic Poultry, I imagine : and the 
parties will often meet in our shrubberies, to partake of the 
berries of the Symphonia racemosa, or snowberry, of which 
they are both exc-essively fond, and will often jump up to some 
height to procure them. This breed of the Crame Fowl we 
have found excellent and high-flavoured. 

*' Some years since, I had a Game Hen sitting in a cow-crib, 
with the usual quantity of Eggs. Long before any Chicks 
could be making their appearance, I several times noticed some 
living thing run from under the Hen on taking her up. This 
I afterwards discovered to be a fine mouse, that repaired there 
for warmth every day ; and it was a curious sight, on the day 
the Chicks came out. to see it nestling among them, the Hen 
looking on most complacently. She was, however, very savage 
to human kind, and would peck your hand severely, if put into 
the nest. 

''But Poultry, in general, enjoy mouse-catching, and will 
often, when a rick is taking in, watch for and sieze them with 
uncommon certainty, and then peek them to pieces and eat 
them."— jS: H. 

In confirmation of which, here is another case : — '' I think I 
told you my Dorking and Spanish Hens are famous mousers. 
"When a stack is got in, they prowl about, and wo to any un- 
fortunate mouse that escapes the men's hands: while making 
off, they pounce upon it and eat it up. A few days since, 
a boy in my yard saw a weasel very busy in a pea-stack, diiving 



T n K r> A M E FOWL. 287 

the mice ahout^thf. Jatt^.r, of courHo, in fn-oM conKf/.ma- 
tion. After a littlo while, two rnieo bolted, jumped off the 
Htack to oHcapo their implacable enemy, but fell inte a« bad 
handH; for they were both seized by Hen8, pecked te death, 
• and eaten up in no time. It wa« ntrange that a weag^-l should 
act aH a jackall to fowln. YcHterday, I threw a large field- 
mouHc to a lien, and watelif.d l.r.r pock it, and then eat it up '' 
— iV. I). F. ^ ' 

"A red and white Game Cock of any breed, ih called a 
Pih; thuH 1 have heard a Maky Cock tliat was white, with a 
red ba/;k, called a J^ile, but I am not quite Bure that the ex- 
pre«Hion in applied te birdn that are not Game. So the Staf- 
fordshire I^ile muHt be red and white-/'—./. H. W. 

ThA Furw^HH Game /'W;/.— ^^ When, or from what place, 
thiH truly beautiful Hi>ecimen of the Game tril>e was introducr^d, 
i« quite a mystery, even with the fanciers and breeders of it! 
The Cock is a bird of singular and handsome appearanc<3. 
The neck, br>dy, and tail are of a beautiful shining black, vary 
rich and lustrous, with a saddle of light buff. The Hen is fx^r- 
fectly bla^;k, with occaHJonally a slight touch of gold in the 
hjickle. In some specimens, both Cock and Hen had a golden 
hackle, but I should say that «uch had been crossed with some 
other variety/'—/'. S. B. ^^Jesides this, there is the bhi.;k- 
breasted copper-winged Furness, which is entirely black all 
over, except the wings, the feathers of which are copper-co- 
loured. Then, very nearly allied te> these in colour, is the 
Pole-cat Game Fowl, differing from the Furness only in hav- 
ing more of light or straw-coloured feathers upon him, his 
wings being of that colour, in arJdition to the markings of the 
Furness; his breast and the rest of his bo<Jy being generally 
black, but sometimes his breast is sha/ly or streaked. 

''TU Filfji are universally known as Cheshire Piles, Staf- 
fordshire Piles, and streaky-breasted Red Piles. Cheshire 
Piles have always a thoroughly red back, with all the rest of 



238 THE GAME F W L. 

the feathers white, excepting oectisionally tliat the breast is 
streaked with red also. Staftbrdshire Piles are similar in m:\rk- 
ings to the Cheshire, but of a yellower east, (or what is called 
by breeders 'carroty,") apjnxxichiug to an orange-yellow; the 
breast is also sometimes streaked with the same colour as the 
back. AVhite is the predominating colour both in the SUif- 
Ibrdshire and the Cheshire Rles. Streaky-breasted Eed Hlea 
are in all respects like the brown-breasted EedGame Fowls, 
with this addition, that the wings are partly white, and the 
tail also partly white. 

^^ White Game Foirl are well known in the ^lidlaud Coun- 
ties, and, iu the opinion of some, are the most chaste and beau- 
tiful variety of all, and are highly prized by those who keep 
them. They difler iu nothing from the class of Fowls to which 
they belong, except in colour, which is uniformly white. But 
for years past the breeders have been so much in the habit of 
crossing the diflerent coloured birds, which no doubt improves 
them for lighting purposes, that it has caused gi-eat confusion 
in the feather, and rendered it extivmely difficult to bived dis- 
tinctly-marked binls with certainty.** — J. B. 

The famous breed of Game Fowls belonging to the Earl of 
Perby are black-breasted Hods, and do not dilTor from other 
birds of the kind, except in being a select family, with occasional 
judicious crosses, as with those of Lord Sefton, Mr. Germain, JMr. 
Potter, Mr. Folkes, and Dr. Taylor. Mr. llichardson has puzzled 
his readers by stating, '* that the breed htvs never yet been 
known to turn tail, notwithstcuiding the pertinacious adherence of 
a tchite /eath<:r to the pile — a blemish that no breeding has been 
able to cKidicate, but which, notwithstanding the well-known 
proverbial prejudice to the contrary, has, in this instance, been 
the never-tailing concomitant of courage." Now a Pile is a 
peculiar kind of Game Fowl, not any jrnrt of one to which a 
tchiic featlia- can adhere. Poor Richardson, being induced to 
write little books faster than he could clearly grasp their sub- 



T II K (] A M E FOWL. 239 

jectH, porhaptt did not uriderHtand his own oxprcHsion ; but 
through the kindncKH of the Karl of Derby, I am enabled to 
give an account of the breed, furniHhed by the person who has 
charge of the birds : it is still retained in its original purity, 
for the sake of its ornithology, not its gladiatorial value. 

Mr. Tliomas Roseoe states, '^ I have known the best of 
Game (Jocks to turn ofl' when out of condition, but not on any 
other occasion. The original blood has been in the hands of 
John Ptosooe and family, as breeders to his lordship, for sixty 
years, and I should suppose it carne to Knowsley in Lord 
Strange' s days, the grandfather of the present Earl. 

" The (jock is a line round-shaped bird, with white striped 
bill; daw eyes and fiery; round and stropg neck; fine, round, 
close-feathered hackle, feather points to shoulders; short, stiff, 
broad back, close- feathered and hard ; tail long and sickled, 
well tufted at root; wings round and well prolonged, so as to 
protect the thighs ; breast broad and black ; belly small and 
tight in the pinions ; thighs short and thick, well set to the 
body; legs long and white; smooth insteps; claws strong; 
nails long and white ; th(; comb of a Stag is rather large and 
red, before being cut ; weight about .0 lbs. 

"The Hen is of a fine round shape, in colour resembling a 
partridge, with daw eyes, white legs, toes, and nails, and large 
and fanned tail. The (Jhicks when first hatched incline to 
yeUow, with a darkish stripe down their back, changing colour 
as they advance in age. The Eggs vary in colour; 1 should 
prefer those inclined to buff; they are generally well-propor- 
tioned, inclining to length. The liens are capital sitters and 
nurses. 

"We generally cut the combs of the young (Jocks when 
between six and nine months old ; the spurs are left on to 
defend them on their walk, and are only cut off when they are 
penned up previous to fighting, in which state they spend 
about eleven days, and are trained by making them spar in 



240 T H E G A M E F O W L. 

warm rooms, with boxing-gloves, made to fit the heel, and pre- 
vent them from hurting each other. The feeding part, on 
which so much depends, is a great secret." [Every feeder has 
his own secret, and no two secrets are probably the same.] 

" I have known them frequently attack men, dogs, calves, 
pigs, turkeys, and geese; and a single bird has killed seven 
of its opponents in one day, when fighting in our trial mains 
at Knowsley." 

Neither John Roscoe, nor his son Thomas Eoscoe, ever had 
anything to do with the feeding of the late Lord Derby's game 
birds, or the training them for the Pit on their own account, 
but there were always regular persons, called '' feeders " or 
" trainers,'' who made it their business, and were employed by 
difi'erent gentlemen who had mains, and under whose special care 
and direction the birds were always placed for a certain time 
previous to their being brought out to tight. Roscoe, and his 
son, now living, having for many years seen the course and the 
methods pursued by these trainers, and under whose orders 
they had to act, have no doubt picked up and remember some 
of the secrets of the trade which used to exist among them, 
and to be kept with very great jealousy; but they were never 
employed themselves as feeders, except as any other servant 
mio-ht have been who was supposed to have some little know- 
ledge on the occasion of the trial mains, which always occur- 
red previous to the regular public mains of the match, in order 
to test the goodness of the different crosses from which the 
selection of the combatants was to be made. A system was 
universally adopted by all Cockers of distinguishing the seve- 
ral breeds, by special artificial marks attached to each cross, 
so that a Cock marked so and so, was put down with a certain 
number of Hens marked, say " light e^'es," to breed at a par- 
ticular spot or farm, the produce of which would be marked 
by the mixture of the parents' marks. The Eggs from these 
were all gathered up regularly, and set, and the Chickens put 



THE GAME FOWL. 241 

out to be brought up at different farm-houses or cottages, and 
regularly looked after by old Roscoe, as Cocker, who kept a 
regular book, in which they were entered as correctly as any 
tradesman or mercantile firm would keep their accounts ; so 
that at any moment Koscoe could tell Lord Derby how many 
Cocks he had of any particular sort, of what age, and where 
they each were, in case any should be wanted, or for the pur- 
pose of selecting the combatants for each main. It was neces- 
sary to ascertain that no other Cock was kept by the farmer, 
nor one too near a brood walk, nor any Turkeys, nor other 
nuisances that might injure the Cocks by setting them fight- 
ing ; neither were the people allowed to hoffle the Hens, so as 
to prevent their scratching. These, and .various other such 
matters, as the Dubbing, as the comb-cutting the young Cocks 
was called, the marking of the Chickens, &c., were the ofl&ce 
of Roscoe, for whom a horse was always kept, that he might 
be able to go round to the distant farms, &c., and see that all 
was right, or else remove the birds elsewhere. The Chickens, 
as soon as hatched, were marked and then put out to nurse 
among the cottagers of the neighbourhood, who were allowed 
to keep as many Hens of any kind as they liked, and often 
obtained thus a sort of cross breed, which obtained some 
sort of notoriety. They were also paid a certain sum for each 
Chicken taken away. When Lord Derby was about to fight 
a main, he used to look over his Cock Book and select a cer- 
tain number of each of the sorts he might choose for that par- 
ticular main ; orders were then given to Roscoe to bring up 
such Cocks from such and such a walk in his book, and those 
selected as fit were placed under his care in a particular build- 
ing at Knowsley, till the Trainer or Feeder could come and 
see to them, which was always at a particular period before the 
public main. These birds were then put up by the Feeder as 
he would have done for the main itself, and Lord Derby, with 
a few friends in his confidence, assembled to witness the trial, 

21 



242 T H E O A M E F W L. 

for which his Lonlship almost iihvays had down his own regu- 
lar Setter, and ivport was regularly made as to the conduct of 
each bird in these preliminary combats. The birds selected 
for these, were of course not the very best, but generally 
chosen because of some slight defect or accident which would 
have been undesirable to have produced in the public l^t, but 
which did not interfere with the powers or prowess of the bird, 
and would thus afford a clue to judge of the qualities of his 
brethren. Some sorts were thus of course at once condemned, 
and othei*s removed for fui-ther trial, and some selected for 
keeping as stock for breeding and iightiug. According to these 
reports, a sufficient number of each approved sort were set 
aside from the stud-book for the regular main, and collected 
shortly before it, to be handed over to the regular Feeder, of 
whom Lord Perb}' employed sevend. The last, who fed for his 
lordship many years, was one Potter, who lia^ now been dead 
some time, and his son has sometimes followed the s;ime line. 
Thei*e used to be very great jealousy observed among the 
Feedei-s, so much so, that young Potter and Roseoe always 
slept in the Pen-room previous to, and during a main, and the 
key was never out of their possession, or the Feeder's ; nor 
sometimes could even Lord Derby's son have obtained ad- 
mission, unless with one of them, or as a very great and spe- 
cial tavour. After Lord Perby gave up his mains, Roseoe, 
and, since his death, his son, has been employed in the care 
of the decreased number of Game Fowls about Knowsley, for 
the supply of the House with poultry and eggs, and with 
Hens for incubation ; but a good many more were given to 
Roseoe to do as he pleased with ; so that whenever the present 
Earl wanted to send some to foreign countries, he could not 
tell where to apply, and was obliged to have recourse to the 
present Eoscoe to find out the small remaining stock. The 
correctness of the bi*eed now in his lordship's possession, there- 
fore^ depends entirely upon him. The terms used by Cockers 



THE GAME FOWL. 243 

for cutting the combs of Cock Chickens, is "dubbing j'' and 
birds of the first year are called Stags. The late Lord Derby 
was so biased by his cocking tastes, as to consider the Fowl 
in its natural state not fit to be looked at in comparison to one 
that was properly dubbed, cut, and trimmed for fighting : nor 
need this surprise us, if we remember how much depends upon 
habit and fashion. Crop-eared dogs, nicked horses, perriwig- 
ged beaux^ powdered and hooped belles, have all been admired 
as the beau ideal of their class; and even in 1850, we should 
rather like to see the face of a sheep-master on his sudden and 
unexpected introduction to a flock of long-tailed, undocked 
Leicesters. 

That in some parts of the world Cock-fights are an attraction 
even to ladies of high degree, appears from a clever letter, 
dated June 15, 1840. 

" The high-road leading from Mexico to San Augustin is 
covered with vehicles of every description. Those who are 
not fortunate enough to possess any wheeled conveyance, come 
out on horse, ass, or mule, single, double, or treble if neces- 
sary ; and many hundred trudge out on foot. The President 
of the Republic himself, in his carriage and six, and attended 
by his aides-de-camp, sanctions by his presence the amuse- 
ments of the fete. The Mexican generals and other officers 
follow in his wake, and the gratifying spectacle may not un- 
frequently be seen, of the President leaning from his box in 
the plaza de galloH, or Cock Theatre, and betting upon a Cock, 
with a coatless, bootless, hatless, and probably worthless raga- 
muffin in the pit ! 

" We went to the gallos about three o'clock. The Plaza 
was crowded, and the ladies, in their boxes, looked like a 
parterre of different-coloured flowers. But whilst the Seiioras 
in their boxes did honour to the fete by their brilliant toilet, 
the gentlemen promenaded round the circle in jackets, high 
and low being on the same curtailed footing, and certainly in 



244 THE GAME FOWL. 

a style of dress more befitting the exhibition. The President 
and his suite were already there, also several of the foreign 
ministers. 

'* Meanwhile, the Cocks crowed valiantly, bets were adjusted, 
and even the women entered int<) the spirit of the scene, 
taking bets with the gentlemen, sotto cocCj in their boxes, upon 
such and such favourite animal. As a small knife Is fastened 
to the leg of each Cook, the battle seldom lasted long ; one 
or other falling every few minutes in a pool of blood. Then 
there was a clapping of hands, mingled with the loud crowing 
of some unfortunate Cock, who was giving himself airs pre- 
vious to a combat where he was probably destined to crow his 
last. It has a curious eifect to European eyes, to see young 
ladies of good family, looking peculiarly feminine and gentle, 
sanctioning by their presence this savage diversion. It is no 
doubt the effect of early habit, and you will s:\v that at least 
it is no worse than a bull-fight ; which is certain — ^yet cruel 
as the latter is, I find something more e/i i/rand, more noble 
in the 

' Ungentle sport that oft invites 
The Spanish maid, and cheers the Spanish swain;' 

in the roaring of the * lord of lowing herds' ; the galloping 
of the fine horses, the skill of the riders, the gay dresses, the 
music and the agile matador; in short, in the whole pomp 
and circumstances of the combat, than when one looks quietly 
on to see two birds peck each other's eyes out, and cut each 
other to pieces. Unlike Cock-pits in other countries, attended 
by blacklegs and pick-pockets, and gentlemanly roud^j by far 
the largest portion of the assembly in the pit was composed 
of the fii'st young men in Mexico, and for that matter, of the 
first old ones also. There was neither confusion, nor noise, 
nor even loud talkincr, far less swearinji, amongst the lowest 
of those assembled in the ring; and it is this quiet and orderly 



THE GAME FOWL. 245 

behaviour which throws over all these incongruities a cloak of 
decency and decorum, that hides their impropriety so com- 
pletely, that even foreigners, who have lived here a few years, 
and who were at first struck with astonishment by these things, 
are now quite reconciled to them. 

"As far as the company went, it might have been the 
House of Kepresentatives in Washington ; the ladies in the 
gallery listening to the debates, and the members in the body 

of the house surrounding Messrs. and , or any other 

two vehement orators ; applauding their biting remarks and 
cutting sarcasms, and encouraging them to crow over each 
other. The President might have been the speaker, and the 
corps diplomatique represented itself. In the evening a ball 
is given in the i^laza de <jallos.'' — Life in Mexico, hy Madame 
Calderon de la Barca, p. 164. 

Among the amusements at Lima, so late as 1849, "The 
Cock -pit is a great attraction, and all classes frequent it. The 
Cocks fight in spurs, so the fight is soon over. My stay there 
was not long ; a very fierce-looking fellow, with a sword-stick, 
said, ^Bet:' I did; a cock fell, and he pocketed the money 
and walked off. Amusing ! Drinking coffee under the vines 
pleased me better." — Walpole^s Four Years in the Pacific, 
vol. ii. p. 33. 



21* 



246 



THE GAME FOWL. 




THE MEXICAX HEX-COCK GAME FOWL. 



Through the politeness of Greo. P. Burnham, editor of the 
'' American Union," Boston. I am able to present to my read- 
ers, portraits and descriptions of the Mexican Game Breed. 
It will be observed that the sickle feathers, proper to the 
Cock's tail, are absent in this yarietv. This arises, doubtless, 
from close breeding, or rather breeding in-and-in, as it is 
called. The neck and rump hackles are but indifferently de- 
veloped. For coniirmation of breeding in-and-in being the 
canse of this, I refer the readers to what 3Ir. "Walker says 
concerning Sir John Sebright's Bantams, in his treatise on 
Intermarriage. I have occasionally witnessed the same thing 



THE GAME F O W L. 247 

occurring among our own smooth-logged Bantams. Such are 
reputed to he the hest fighters. In a letter 1 received yester- 
day, from my friend, David Taggart, Esq., of Northumber- 
land, Pa., he says : " I was at Milton a few weeks, and stopped 
at the public-house of Mr. Frederick Sticker, who has been 
for many years, a breeder of Game Fowls. In his Poultry- 
yard, I discovered two Fowls, that, with all my Chicken ex- 
perience, puzzled me, at first glance, to know their sex. They 
were both Cocks, one eighteen, the other seven months old. 
Both had their heads shaved in regular Game-chicken style, 
and neither had a feather on him that indicated a male bird, 
with the exception of one or two of the longest tail-feathers, 
slightly curved and bent over. I brought the younger one 
with me, for the sake of his portrait, which I hope to send 
you in my next letter. He has, you will observe, (vide Por- 
trait,) no bright-coloured plumage, no long pendent feathers 
on neck or back, nothing, in fact, to mark his sex, but a proud 
stately gait, and erect mien. He is full-blooded Game, and 
old Sticker calls him a Pheasant Fowl. It is only occasionally 
they appear among his stock, deriving their strange appear- 
ance from remote ancestors;" and, my friend, you might have 
added, from breeding in-and-in for many years past ; at least, 
I will venture to say so, without knowing further particulars 
in this instance. Of two things I am quite certain, viz. : that 
Hen-tailed Cocks have a popular reputation of being great 
fighters, and that they generally, if not always, result from 
breeding in-and-in. I will here take the liberty of quoting 
Dr. Bennett's communication to the " American Union" news- 
paper, concerning the Mexican Game Fowl, whose portraits 
are given above. He says : ^' These Fowls are in many 
respects remarkable. The Spanish name, " Gallus Gallenos," 
or ^^ Hen-cock," (Latin — Gallus Gallinaceus,) at once intro- 
duces us to their principal peculiarity. The Cocks, to all 
intents and purposes, resemble ordinary Hens — the only 



248 THE GAME FOWL. 

marked difference being in the size of the comb and wattles. 
They are comparatively destitute of neck and rump hackles. 
The colour is usually similar to that of a Partridge } the legs 
are dark and smooth, the eyes lustrous, and the plume-feathers 
are shorter and less brilliant than those of other Fowls. 

In size, they compare favourably with other Game Fowls. 
Their general aspect is ferocious, and their movements are 
lively and graceful. They are what " cockers" call fast figJit- 
ers. The particular Fowls here described, one of which is 
represented in the picture, are those obtained by me from 
John Giles, Esq., of Providence, and Dr. Eben Wight, of 
Dedham, and are now owned by C. W. Mead, of Chicopee, 
and Samuel Parker, of Worcester. 

The Hen portrayed above, is an imported Cuban Game Fowl, 
now owned by Mr. Mead. This breed are perfectly black, and 
have all the points of the best sorts of Game Fowls. Their 
prowess is wonderful, and it is rarely the case that one of them 
survives a defeat. 

The following letter from CoL Adam G. Summer, of Poma- 
ria, S. C, to the author, gives so ample and beautiful a de- 
scription of this Fowl, that further comment, here, is unne- 
cessary : — 

" This unique variety was introduced in 1844, by General 
Waddy Thompson, of that State, on his return from Mexico. 
It is a favourite variety with the Mexicans, and their Mexican 
name is " Gallus Galleno^^ — Hen-Cock, from the fact that 
the male birds have short broad tails, and, in colour and plu- 
mage, the appearance of the Hens of the same variety differing 
only in the combs — which is very large and erect in the Cocks, 
and small in the Hens. 

" In Mexico, they are fought without training, and the Com- 
mon Game Cook will not attack these hen-looking Cocks until 
it is too late. The Mexican Cock is generally Pheasant- 



THE GAME FOWL. 



'M 



coloured, with occasional changes in plumage from a light yellow 
to a dark gray, and recently in the stock in Carolina there has 
been a tendency to black tail-feathers and breast, as well as an 
inclination to gray and light-yellow, and with a slight approxi- 
mation to red hackles in some rare instances. 

^' The majority of the whole stock, however, preserves the 
original Pheasant-colour. This variety has a strong frame, and 
the largest and most muscular thighs of any Fowl I have as 
yet seen. This gives quick power to his fierce action in fight, 
and, if not killed immediately, he is sure to be victorious. I do 
not know whether they will fight well in a cold climate like 
yours. The Cocks are distinguished by large upright combs, 
strong bills, and very large lustrous eyes. Their legs vary 
from a dirty to a dark green-colour. The Hens difier so little 
from the Cocks that a description is unnecessary. 

" They are as good layers and sitters as any other game 
breed, and are good nurses. The Cock, which was the pro- 
genitor of all the stock now in the United States, was presented 
to Gen. Thompson, by Gen. Santa Anna, just before he closed 
his official career as Minister to Mexico, and was victorious in 
a large main, fought by the famous Cock-fighting Mexicans. 
Gen. Thompson sent to 'Queretaro for some Hens, and thence 
sprang all the true Cock-Hens now in this country. Those 
sent by my brother, Mr. Summer, to Mr. Giles, Dr. Wight, and 
Mr. Burton, are from a pair presented to him by Gen. Thomp- 
son, out of the original stock. 

" Their crosses on other game breeds are highly esteemed 
here as fighting Fowls, and their muscular forms adapt them 
as well for the spit as for the pit. Wm. Summer, of Pomaria, 
S. C, breeds them in their purest state, and regards them a 
valuable Fowl for domestic purposes. 

"A. G. Summer." 

Mr. William Summer, in a letter to the author, dated " Po- 



250 T H E G A M E F O W L. 

maria, S. C, July 23d, 1850/' in speaking of these Fowls, 



'^ I had concluded to send you a Hen of mine to make out 
the pair — one that General Thompson sent me as particularly 
fine ; though I say, in all sincerity of heart, that the pair sent 
by me to Mr. John Griles was the best pair I have ever bred. 
You are fortunate in securing them from him, as they will give 
the very best representation of the breed when in full feather. 
Mr. Giles, in a recent letter, informed me that the Cock had im- 
proved very much." 

Colonel Summer, in a letter of July 8th, 1850, observes : — 

^ Santa Anna, or, properly, ^Hen-Cock,' (Gallus Gallevos — ■ 

Spanish,) were brought from Queretaro, by Hon. Waddy 

Thompson, and a pair presented to us by him has been bred 

pure. I have their history from General Thompson." 

Of a Fowl denominated the Yankee Game, Dr. Ben- 
nett gives the following description : — He says, " This Fowl 
was originally produced by a cross" — (I don't like crosses of 
any kind, except, perhaps, a first cross, and that only for the 
table, not for hreeding purposes,^ — " between the Plymouth 
Rock and Indian Game Hen. But a few only have been 
produced from this mixture. I have since bred, and shall 
continue to breed, this race, from the Cock and Hen described 
in the preceding articles; that is to say, from the Spanish 
Cock of Mr. Stacy, and the wild Indian Hen of Mr. Estes. 

" This variety combines the great strength and size of the 
Wild Indian Game Hen, and the sprightliness and beauty of 
the Spanish Game, and thus partakes of the general cha- 
racteristics of the two best kinds of Game Fowl. For loftiness, 
carriage, hauteur, compactness of form, healthiness, neatness, 
sprightliness, and general beauty, this sort are unrivalled ; and, 
so far as fine flesh and captivating appearance are concerned, 
they are, undoubtedly, the best breed in America." So says 



THE GAME FOWL. 251 

Dr. Bennett ; but I say, with due deference, that, being mon- 
grels, they must, of necessity " cry back" to one of the original 
progenitors ; and the first intimation of " crying back" will 
prove but the beginning of the end ; so that, in the language 
of Peisthetaerus, the breeders and fanciers of mongrels shall 
still have to utter their complaint : — 

"Plague on thee ! but this bird of mine croaks 'back again.' " 

I cannot better illustrate this point, than by quoting a part 
of a letter which I have just received from my friend, Mr. 
Taggart, of Northumberland, Pa. He says, " In the spring 
of 1839, my father purchased a pair of pure Creole Fowls in 
Reading. Having charge of the Chicken department, I bred 
them pure for two seasons. After that, I introduced one-eighth 
or more of the blood of a large yellow breed of Fowls, to give 
them additional size and strength ; always taking care to pre- 
serve the white necks, spotted bodies, and blue legs oT the un- 
adulterated Creoles. Notwithstanding this precaution for 
several years, I had among my broods a number of brown or 
yellow Chickens. At last, the strain ran entirely out, and now 
my Creoles are as pure, and breed as certainly as your Shang- 
haes ; but they have also gone hack to the size of their Reading 
progenitors/' 

An elderly friend of mine, residing some eighteen miles north 
of Philadelphia, told me, last summer, that the Frizzled Fowl 
was introduced among his Poultry, and, not being pleased with 
the result, he made it a point to kill ofif all the young of that 
variety, before they were old enough to breed from ; and that 
he was seven years in thus restoring his flock to their original 
condition ; fewer and fewer appearing each year, until about 
the seventh year, when, and since, none appeared. 

I take pleasure in presenting the following letters of my 
friend, Mr. Taggart, in relation to a peculiar variety of G-ame 
Fowl in his possession ; also, in relation to some Chittagongs 



252 THE GAME FOWL. 

he obtained of me during the last summer. They will be read 
with interest, especially as they abound, also, in many import- 
ant miscellaneous remarks and suggestions : — 
Br. J. J. Kerr : 

Dear Sir: — I certainly owe you a long letter, and if I am 
not able to pay it to-night, you may very soon expect another, 
and, this ^zme, without fail. 

Our term of Court came on early in the month, and lasted 
two weeks. This, of course, had to be attended. Since then, 
I have been waiting on my friend. Dr. Robt, B. McCay, to 
shetch a Chicken or two for me, which I have thought suffi- 
ciently remarkable to deserve a place in the book. I have some 
little talent in that line myself, but the Doctor has had more ex- 
perience. I therefore leave that branch of the business to him. 

As ignorance is in all cases preferable to error, it is certainly 
a writer's highest duty to know well what he undertakes to 
teach. Impressed with this idea, my dear sir, the aid I shall 
be able to afford you in your very laudable enterprise, must, 
of necessity, be trifling and unimportant. I may furnish a few 
striking facts in support of certan doctrines you will be likely 
to advance. And this I will do right gladly, for I consider a 
man who writes a book on a useful and interesting subject, one 
of the greatest of mankind's benefactors 

Accidental qualities may be transmitted from parent to 
child, as the following will show : — 

A friend of mine, the late Robert Grant, owned a fine large 
breed of Game Fowls — shawl necks, or Irish grays ; the Cocks 
weighing seven pounds. One of his roosters, when a mere 
chicken, stepped into the fire, and roasted off his toe-nails. 
He hardly ever got an offspring that did not, more or less, show 
his parentage, by defective toes. I procured a couple of his 
progeny, and have the Hen yet. Her Chickens and grand- 
chickens have the same signs. Is it not wonderful, that a 
mere accident should thus mark at least four generations ? 

Two years ago, I purchased, from a gentleman in Blooms- 



THE GAME FOWL. . 263 

burg, a very odd-looking Chicken, a Pullet four or five months 
old. Though very small, weighing now not more than two 
pounds, (see Portrait,) she has the appearance and characteris- 
tics of Dr. Bennnett's Wild Indian Game Hen, except the vast 
difference in size. I was struck with the resemblance. She 
is firm -fleshed, short- feathered, and almost combless ; and has 
the most peculiar gait I ever saw. Her pertinacity in sitting 
is most extraordinary. I will try to send you her portrait. 
Her mother, no larger than herself, was imported from Calcutta. 
And, though my Pullet is the result of crossing with an ordi- 
nary G-ame Cock, the breed is so strong that she resembles her 
mother in all respects, and her sire in nothing. You may form 
some estimate of her fighting blood, when I tell you, that 
Cocks out of her, by a Booby (the meanest of all gallinaceous 
athletes) or other Dunghill Fowl, are a full match for our best 
G-ame Chickens. 

Is not your ^^ woolly" Hen, identical with the breed termed 
frizzled, with feathers reversed, like the quills of an angry 
hedge-hog ? If so, lean easily procure you a husband for her.* 

You wish to be posted-up in Aquatic Birds. I know some- 
what of these, but probably not so much as yourself In re- 
gard to Ducks, they are much more prolific than they usually 
have credit for ; and, even for Eggs, can be made a profitable 
bird, if well fed and properly managed. Any common Duck, 
so treated, if not old, will yield, in a season, one hundred or more 
large, rich, and delicious Eggs. When they lay, it is daily or 
nightly ; and, if kept from sitting, which is easily done by 
changing their nests frequently, they will lay, with little inter- 
ruption, from February or March until August. But the 
trouble is, a Duck lays only when Eggs are most abundant, 
while Hens' Eggs may be procured at all seasons. 

The young of Ducks seldom die of disease ; and if cats and 



* The two varieties are entirely distinct. — Ed. 

22 



254 T H E G A M E F W L. 

rats are exterminated, as in all cases they should be, there 
will be no trouble in raising almost as many Ducks as you have 
Eggs. One year, from 94 Eggs, I had 91 hatched, and raised 
87. Twenty-four of these were Musk, or Muscovy Ducks, as 
they are erroneously termed. In speaking of the prolificness of 
Ducks, I don't think this variety should be included. They 
lay comparatively few Eggs. Ducks come early to maturity, 
being nearly full grown, and in fine eating order at three months 
old, far excelling, in this respect, all other Poultry, except 
G-eese. 

Of the large white Aylesbury, and the still larger Rouen 
Duck, I know nothing but what I have read. 

But of all Poultry, G-eese can be raised with the greatest 
ease, in the sJiortest time, and at the least expense, provided you 
live in the country, or in a village where grass grows in the 
streets and alleys. I have only reared them once, but I am 
certain Goslings can be brought up on grass alone. Though, 
of course, they grow much faster if better fed. I fed mine 
well, on Indian meal and milk, and sometimes on corn — this 
in addition to good pasture — and see the result. They are 
of common blood, and not remarkable in size. At 33 days 
old, one weighed 5 j lbs. ; at 47 days, 6 lbs. 15 oz. ; 54 days, 
8 lbs. 3 oz. ; 64 days, 8 lbs. 14 oz. ; at 93 days, 11 i lbs., 
when I killed them. For Eggs, Geese are no " great shakes '/' 
but, to use a Crockettism, they're awful on a grow. 

You have not asked my views on Turkeys ; but what little 
I know, I may as well impart. I raised two broods, last sum- 
mer, byway of experiment. The first lot, to the nmnber of fif- 
teen, were hatched in June, under Hens. "With these I was very 
successful, having lost but one. The Gobblers now weigh 11 or 
12 lbs.; the Hens, 7 or 8. I was very careful of them, feeding 
them on the curds of milk, and waste bread, soaked in milk, 
until they were four or five weeks old. After that, I was not so 
particular : I kept them in the garden, and by the time they 



THE GAME FOWL. 255 

were eight weeks old, they had so stripped the onion-beds that 
not a top was to be seen. It no doubt benefited them greatly. 
With a later brood, I was not so fortunate : I raised but the 
half of them, and they are stinted and puny. On the whole. 
Turkeys may be set down as tender birds, and their rearing 
attended with very uncertain results. 

Great mistakes are sometimes committed by writers on 
Poultry, in regard to the various periods of incubation of 
Hens, Ducks, Turkeys, etc. I have taken some pains to as- 
certain the true time of each, and I will give you the result : 

A Hen, under ordinary circumstances, sits 20 days, 

A Guinea Fowl 25J 

A Duck 26 " 

A Turkey 27 " 

A Goose 29 

A Musk Duck 32 or 33 days. 

From these figures you will find but small and infrequent 
variations. I never knew but one very decided exception. 
Early in last March, I got a neighbour to set one of his Hens 
for me. She was extremely poor, and her nest was in a bleak, 
open, and empty hay-mow. March was a very cold month, 
and the winds played all around her, above her, and under her. 
She sat almost on the bare boards. About the 22d day, I be- 
gan to think it was " no go," and broke one of the Eggs. I 
found, to my surprise, a live Chicken, which still lacked four 
or five days of perfection. On the 27th day, she brought out 
eight rather puny Chicks. Some of them I was able to raise. 
As the Hen began to keep her nest several days before the 
Eggs were given to her, there can be no mistake as to the time. 
I always note it down. 

It has been asserted that Hens' Eggs have been hatched in 
eighteen days. But this, you may depend, never happened 
since the first Hen brought forth her first brood in Adam's 



256 THE GAME FOWL. 

chicken-house. It is contra naturam. Incubation may be 
prolonged, but not hastened."* 

Passages of the following letter from Mr. Taggart I have 
incorporated in other parts of the book. I have concluded, 
however, to submit it in full to the careful reader ; and also a 
briefer epistle from the same hand, correcting one or two tri- 
fling errors in former communications, and adding to some 
views previously herein expressed. 

Dr. J. J. Kerr : 

Dear Sir : — Your very flattering letter of Wednesday, in- 
duces me to resume my pleasant undertaking. I regret that 
I have not more leisure to do justice to my friend, myself, and 
the subject. 

You express some little surprise at the minuteness of my 
observations. But please, remember, that from my earliest 
boyhood, I have been a devoted, constant, and intense admirer 
of nature's live-stock. This disposition has grown with my 
years, and will follow me, I trust, unaltered and undiminished, 
to the grave. Menageries, Cattle Shows, and, most especially, 
Poultry-yards, have always been my delight. When six or 
eight years old, I knew almost every Cock and Hen in the vil- 
lage. And, though my own stock sometimes numbers two or 
three hundred, I can individualize, nay, give the age, history, 
and genealogy of every Chicken. Thus much for your friend's 
experience, and his reliableness as an observer. 

In these hasty and ill-digested sketches, it must of neces- 
sity happen, that many things are written which will neither 



* I have had Chicks to hatch out on the evening of the 18th day ; 
having been set early in the morning of the first day, of course, the 
period of incubation was some ten or twelve hours over 18 days. My 
friend, Mr. Cope, had one or two Chicks to hatch out on the 27th day; 
none have come out with myself later than the 23d day. — Ed. 



THE GAME FOWL. 257 

please the critic nor enlighten the poulterer. These it will 
be your province to curtail, enlarge, alter, or expunge, accord- 
ing to your older and better judgment. The clay is in the 
hands of the potter : let him mould it as he will. 

There is one very important item in Poultry-breeding, which 
I have never seen sufficiently dwelt on in books, and that is, 
the great advantage of having early spring-hatched Pullets, to 
lay in October, November, and December, when Eggs are 
scarcest, and command the highest price. I never kill a Pul- 
let hatched earlier than May, until very cold weather, or some 
other circumstance, has put an end to her winter laying. I 
have seven young Hens, a cross between the Creole and 
Booby, hatched in April, and all are now laying. One began 
on the 18th October, and has laid 36 Eggs; and some of them, 
if well managed, will lay all winter. On this account, early 
maturity is very much to be desired in Chickens. And no 
Fowl is longer in attaining maturity than a imre Booby, or 
Bucks County Pullet, at least as far as Eggs are concerned. 
Though hatched in March and April, they seldom lay in 
autumn, v^hile some other breeds feel bound to produce when 
6 or even 5^- months old. In estimating the value of breeds, 
surely this is a consideration of great importance. At all 
events, I will not recommend the Boobies, though, when 
crossed with Creoles or other prolific birds, they do well 
enough. In fact, they do very well themselves in spring and 
summer ; but are not much worth in winter. 

Last fall, I had a Game Pullet that began to lay on the 14th 
of September, though she was hatched on the 29th of March. 
I have never known greater precocity than this, unless you are 
right in the age of my brown Chittagong. She began to lay 
October 19th, and was, consequently, but five months old, if 
you are not mistaken in her age, as I think you are. Be that 
as it may, if znine are fair samples, the Chittagongs are highly 
commendable, not only for their enormous size, but for the 
22* 



258 T H E G A M E F O W L. 

early and rapid production of Eggs. But, ^' notis verrons/' as 
old Ritchie used to say. 

If a goodly number of early Pullets of a prolific breed 
were kept over, and well fed, instead of slaughtered to fill the 
paunch of some impatient glutton, the great scarcity of Eggs 
in late autumn and early winter, would, in a measure, cease. 

It strikes me a Hybrid (the first cross) will come to matu- 
rity sooner than did either of its progenitors ; and that a cross 
between the Creole and the Polish or the Black Spanish would 
produce the best laying Hens in the world. If I am able to 
prociu-e either of the two last mentioned, I will try it. AH 
these things are worthy of inquiry, and should be fully inves- 
tigated. 

If mongrelizing be, in no case, followed by permanent re- 
sults, how is it that the Dorkings, which are said to be a 
mixture, have been so celebrated for many years ? If, as you 
assert, and as I am prone to believe, no permanent interme- 
diate race can be established by crossing, it follows, ex necessi- 
tate, that every well-defined breed has now, or has had a 
separate and distinct original in the wilderness. All could not 
have descended from the Gallus Giganteus and the Bankiva, for 
all would in a few years revert back to the type of the one or the 
other. But here, instead of furnishing you with my experi- 
ence, I am presumptuously splurging out among theorems and 
speculations — and that is not my task. Facts ! ' them's the 
jockeys for me !' as you very eloquently remarked about the 
Shanghaes. 

When I was a little boy, I owned a very odd-looking sort 
of Fowls, called " Creepies," or " Creepers,'' from their ex- 
ceedingly b.V^^t legs; and another kind, called "Bunties," 
which had no tails, an^^, i^ ^^ct, no place for a tail to grow — 
they had no rumps. The CreepeT^ I liave seen of all sizes, 
from two pounds to five, with legs much shorteT *^^^ Bantams^ 
and entirely bare. Of these varieties, I have never seen piord 



THE GAME FOWL. 259 

than a passing notice ; and surely they are sufficiently remark- 
able to deserve greater attention. I do not mean that the Creep- 
ers are very distinctive in any other feature than their short 
legs ; for I have seen them of all colours ; with combs double 
and single, legs yellow, black, blue, and white ; with crests, 
and without them : and so of the other sort. Nay, I have 
seen Fowls that were both "Creepers" and ''Bunties." In 
crossing the first-named with long-legged Chickens, if I re- 
member correctly, the Hybrid had either the short legs of the 
one, or the long legs of the other — no half-and-half — a full 
Creeper, or no Creeper at all. While, in mixing the Bunties, 
you will sometimes get one sort, and sometimes the other — 
but generally an ugly-looking monstrosity, with a piece of a 
tail, pointing towards the ground. But these are small mat- 
ters, and you can notice them or not, as you like. 

I do not remember writing to you of a very careful dissec- 
tion my friend. Dr. Robt. B. McCay, and myself made of a 
young Turkey, suffering with gapes. It was very small and 
stunted from its birth. It had great difficulty in breathing. 
Its lungs and other viscera seemed sound, but the windpipe 
was almost filled with a number of double, and sometimes 
triple-headed worms, which adhered with the utmost pertina- 
city to the sides, raising, at the point of contact, an excrescence 
or rough swelling. The worms were an inch in length, and 
of this fashion : '^-^fa**'**^ . The extra heads, or necks, are 
much more slender than the main trunk, and colourless, while 
the other is dark. I have very frequently found them in 
Chickens, while in others that manifested the same external 
symptoms, there icere none to he found. Whether this parasite 
is the cause of the disease, or one of its effects, I am unable 
to say without further experiments. 

I have seen it stated somewhere, that a Hen, if allowed to 
raise her own brood, will sit but once in a season. This is a 
very gross error. I have known Hens to incubate three 



260 THEGAMEFOWL. 

times in a year, with good success, and raise their own broods. 
Nay, four times is possible, if you will be unwisely troubled 
with a November brood. TTith a young Hen, the desire to 
lay again soon returns, and she abandons her flock at five 
weeks, and sometimes four, and even three weeks. Under 
these circumstances, a Hen that brings out her early brood 
on the first of April, deserts them about the fii-st of May, lays 
two weeks in an loidisturhed nest, resumes the task of incu- 
bation, and, on the 4th of June, brings out her second. At 
the same rate, before the middle of August she hatches her 
third litter. This is often the case with young Hens, that 
have been well fed during their maturity, and not cooped up. 
Old ones, whose ovaries are measurably exhausted, are not in 
such a hurry to re-commence operations. I have seen such ones 
running with their Chickens until they were nearly grown. 

The turning of a sitting Hen's Eggs, is, I verily believe, a 
humbug. In the first place, it seems unnecessary, as the em- 
bryo is said to he ahcaj/s 7(j>pe)'}nost, let the Egg rest as it will ; 
and, in the second place, the Hen herself never turns them, 
except by accident. Sometimes, and especially when she re- 
sumes her nest, the Eggs are not fixed to her liking — they do 
not fit properly, and then she gives them a turn or two with 
her beak, to adapt them to her fancy ; but certainly not to get 
the other side up. as many people believe. 

I can put your readers in a sure way of finding out how many 
Chickens they are going to have, before the Hen is half done 
sitting. I can tell very easily at the end of a week, but it is 
safer for a green hand to wait two or three days longer. The 
advantage is, that by taking out the unfertile Eggs, you give 
the others a better chance ; and, if you have two or three Hens 
contemporaneously sitting, two may be able to cover the good 
Eggs of three, and the third be ready for a new batch. This is 
sometimes desirable. And now "pro modo operandi." Take 
the Eggs (very carefully, of course,) into a darkened apart- 



THE GAME FOWL. 261 

ment, (the darker the better,) where, if possible, the sun shines 
through a single crevice. Hold the Egg up to the ray of light, 
and if it is bound to hatch, all below the vacuum in the '' butb'^ 
will be dark-coloured opaque ; if not, it will be light-coloured 
and yellowish, and not entirely impervious to the sunshine. It 
sometimes happens a whole batch is worthless. In this case, 
it is better that a Hen should cover them eight or ten days, 
than twenty. 

With double-yolked Eggs I have tried some experiments, 
always putting them under Hens, if in season. And though 
I have thus treated more than twenty, I have never got a live 
Chicken. The first year I had my Creoles, one of the Eggs 
was double, and I put it under with the rest. When the brood 
was all hatched, I opened it 3 and, to speak pathetically, there, 
in the repose of death, lay two perfect disunited Chickens. 
They did not possess strength enough to get out. This is the 
nearest I ever came to success. In the same season, an ordi- 
nary-looking Egg, of the same Hen, when half hatched, was 
accidentally broken. I took it from the nest, and discovered, 
to my astonishment, an embryo, with two beaks, and almost 
two entire heads. The heads branched at the eye, exhibiting 
a perfect eye on the outside of each caput, and a deformed or 
double one between them. In two or three other cases, the 
vital principle of the one half seemed to germinate for a time, 
but, probably on account of the barrenness of the other half, 
never came to maturity. But in a large majority of the cases, 
I might as well have set my Hens with bricks. 

Talking of unnaturals, reminds me of a young Cock I once 
had, whose legs were frozen off at the knees. He grew to be 
a fine healthy Fowl ; and, the next summer, stumped it about 
as gaily and as gallantly, as his more fortunate brothers. A 
black man, who sometimes worked for us, was exceedingly 
anxious to procure the breed; because, as he said, " dey 
couldn't scrash de garden -/' but the devil of it was, he couldn't 



262 THE a A ME rowL. 

tread the Hens ; and, never boiug able to gratify his hist, he 
-was always lustful. At last we missed him, and I always 
thoncht the nufffcr stole him for the sake of the breed. 

The nests of sitting Hens should be made shallow — not more 
than four or five inches deej) — ^so that, in steppiug in, they may 
not break the Eggs by a big jump ; as they are very apt to 
do, if the nests are deeper. Another improTement is, to turn 
the Ktx, that the opening may fooe the wall. Let the boxes 
be placed on a platform raised a few inches above the ground, 
with only two nests between the ports of entrance, that the 
Hens may not be induced to enter the wrong ones by having 
to pass them. See diagmm : — 



4 



.r .r .1' — Gangway between nests and wall. 
ABC11 — Ports of entry. 

Hen Xo. 1 goes to port a, and tiu-us to the 
right. Xo. 2 goes to same port, and turns left, 
and so fot'th. The advantages of this plan are 
-^-^ obvious, for it insures both secresy and repose. 

c Yon ask my views on Ohittagongs and Shang- 

g I haes. I have partly given them already. The 
f ! Ohittagongs, though they may not breed all alike, 

^ are certainly huge and magnificent birds, and 

— *~ withal precocious. My young Stag, unlike most 



other large Fowls, is stately as a monarch, which he certainly 
is in my Poultry-yard. One Pullet has already won for her- 
self " imperishable laurels" as a layer, and the other has 
already entered the lists. The Shanghaes are xery pure-Iook{n(/f 
and very beautiful. The Pullet is the handsomest she-fowl 
I ever saw. She looks like a Dui-ham heifer, if I may/o/re 
the comparison. But the Stag, poor fellow ! I am iifraid is 
going to die. If he does, look well to your chicken-roost 
when I come down. He seems very much indisposed, — his 
eyes are watery, and the parts about them swollen, — his feet 



THE GAME FOWL. 263 

are cold, and he has a fashion of shaking his head, which, 
certainly, does not betoken good health. Though he has at 
times been quite lively, he has always remained extremely 
thin. His frame-work is gigantic, but he weighs less than 6| lbs. 

I hope you will give xMr. Allen's Appendix o. d'uj, as regards 
the weight of large Fowls. He says, ''it takes an unusually 
fine Cock of any breeds to weigh 7^ lbs." This fall, I lost a 
Booby Cock, fifteen months old, that weighed 10 J lbs., and 
when he took ill, he was rapidly on the increase. And I 
doubt not, in another year he would have weighed 12 or 13 lbs., 
but he was much the finest of his breed. They usually weigh 
8 J or 9 lbs., when a year old. I have a lien of that sort, that 
weighed last spring 8^ lbs., — the most of the Hens from Gi to 
7 J. Then, if Boobies so greatly exceed Mr. Allen's ultimatum 
of 7 J, what will Cochin Chinas, Shanghaes, and Chittagongs 
do ? Poke it at him ! '^ FU hack yf/a J" 

In my last letter, I said something in favour of Ducks and 
Geese, but not enough. Among other things, I said they 
were hardy. This is so true, that I have never seen an adult 
Duck or Goose sick or drooping, and scarcely ever a young 
one. If they are lost, it is by cats and ratSj but seldom by 
disease. While Turkeys and Chickens may be seen moping in 
corners, gasping and coughing, Ducks and Geese waddle about 
in comfortable and greasy health, — always ready for their 
rations, and, ualess barbarously starved, always fit for the 
table. All that is said or written about fattening them is 
vain and idle. Fed abundantly in any way, at liberty or 
** cabined, crib?jed, confined," a grown Goose or Duck is gene- 
rally ioo fat for table use, unless large quantities of the "adi- 
pose" are taken from it before cooking. I have seen whole 
platefuls of "goose-grease" abstracted from a single bird, 
though no extra pains had been taken with it. Then what 
is the use of cruelly stufi&ng them, or more cruelly incarce- 
rating them, as is often recommended ? 



264 THE GAME FOWL. 

It is a mistake to suppose that a pond of water or a running 
brook is essential to the thrift of either Duck or Groose. It 
may afford them facilities for washing their feathers ; but all 
the water they need, is a panful, at all times by them, to drink. 
No one has had better luch with them than myself, and my 
web-footed bipeds never saw river, pond or brook, — nothing 
more extensive nor permanent than a mud-puddle after a 
shower. 

While on the subject of web-feet, I will tell you the story 
of Isaac O'Sanner's Game Chickens, lest you should never have 
heard it. Of course, you will not put it in the hooh, for fear 
there might be some mistake about it. Isaac had been to a 
Cock-light, and was so pleased with the pluck of the com- 
batants, that he determined to have some of the same. A 
friend promised him some G-ame Cock's Eggs, and, in fulfilment, 
sent him those of Ducks. Isaac set them under his Hen, and 
though he thought they were very slow about coming out, he 
waited patiently till they broke the shell. But therij there 
was no limit to his admiration and delight. He took one up 
in his hand. He looked at its bill, and exclaimed, in great 
glee, " Jiminy, what a neb ! If he takes hould, he'll niver let 
go !" He glanced at its feet, and that capped the climax of his 
extacy, and says he, " What a fine wide fut he's got ! — all 
— luould'nt thrirp Mm upT' But, alas for the vanity of 
human hopes ! Isaac had to leave home, and the care of the 
Chickens, for a season, devolved on his brother Amos. Now, 
in feeding, it struck Amos that the Game Chickens shovelled 
up a great deal more than their share, owing to their broad 
"bakes." And being a great lover of justice, he picked them 
up, and whittled their bills down to a point, that the others 
might have an even chance with them. In consequence of 
this treatment, Isaac O'Sanner's Game Chickens never won a 
battle. 



THE GAME FOWL. 265 

As food for Poultry, many things are recommended, and 
many things are good. But of all grains, economy properly 
considered, Indian corn is probably the best as a standard — 
chopped for small ones, and whole or chopped for large and 
half-grown Fowls. When made into meal, it can be mixed 
with the surplus milk, or with the water that meat has been 
cooked in, with great advantage. For young and growing 
Poultry, — Turkeys, G-eese, Ducks, or Chickens, — milk in any 
shape, is most particularly beneficial Fowls are very fond of 
wheat, but it is too expensive. Oats are (or is, which say you ?) 
light, and consequently not so cheap as they seem. One 
bushel of corn is worth two of oats, for Poultry, and for almost 
any thing else. As for rye. Chickens will scarcely eat it. In 
winter, when Hens are of necessity prevented from getting 
green food for themselves, they should be well supplied with 
the leaves of cabbage, beets, and other vegetables, and with 
the half-rotten apples. The very eagerness with which they 
devour such things, after a long abstinence, is proof of their 
utility. But of all extras for Fowls in winter, meat is the 
most beneficial — from chopped beef-steak to cheese-maggots. 
Furnish a Hen with animal food, and occasionally something 
verdant, — put her in comfortable lodgings, where water and 
pebble-stones and pounded hones can be had at all times, with 
a dust-hole to wash herself in, — and, if she be young, she will 
quite probably forget that it is winter, and proceed to lay. 
Old Hens cannot be so easily deceived. They are too cunning. 
It is as much as a bargain to get them to lay by the first of 
April. These stubborn old matriarchs should be served like 
traitors to liberty — have their tails cut off, just behind their 
ears; for, according to Napoleon, they have passed the grand 
climacteric of a females usefulness. You remember what he 
told Madam De Stael. "But my pen wanders." Let us get 
back to Chicken-feed. 

Pounded oyster-shells and slacked lime are considered 



266 THE GAME FOWL. 

excellent ; and so they are, as containing calcareous matter for 
the shells of eggs. But crushed bones are as good for this, and 
better, for the Fowls will devour them ravenously — and much 
better in another respect. Any one who has undertaken to pound 
a fresh bone, must have noticed that in three or four slams 
he almost hammered it into 7neat. In fact, it contains a large 
amount of marrow, or greasy substance. Hence, the double ad- 
vantage of feeding pounded bones to Hens in " wintry weather.'^ 

As a general rule, April is the best month for Eggs, and 
December the worst. They might be ranged in this order : 
April, May, March, June, July, February, August, September, 
January, October, November, December. Of course, this 
arrangement would be much modified by circumstances. If 
Hens are encouraged to sit as early and as often as possible, 
the products of May, June, and July would be much reduced. 
And if many early spring Pullets are kept, the yield of 
October, November, and December will be vastly increased. 

I enclose you not only a good likeness of the Fowl, which 
I promised you, but a most excellent picture. It was done 
by Dr. Robert B. McCay, and is the first Chicken that ever 
sat for him. Is it not admirable ? You already have a full 
description of the Fowl, in my last letter. The Doctor has given 
him the spurs of eighteen months, instead of those of seven or 
eight months; but this is the only noticeable error, and easily 
corrected. I wish you could return me the portrait, when 
you have done with it. 

I fear from the looks of my other engagements, that this 
must be the last of my contributions. I regret sincerely 
that the agreeable task is done ; and if I had had more leisure, 
my efforts should not only have been better finished, but more 
numerous. As it is, you are entirely welcome to them. And 
believe me, for the present, 

Your very tired and sleepy friend, 

David Taggart. 



THE GAME FOWL. 267 

The name " Gray Eagle ^^ in the following letter of my friend 
Taggart, is the local name of a mongrel or mixed Fowl, in this 
vicinity, partaking freely of the blood of the Shanghae, Chitta- 
gong, and Malay varieties. They grow quite large, but like 
the Chittagong, which they nearly resemble, do not breed uni- 
formly in point of colour : 

Dr. Jno. J. Kerr : 

Dear Sir : — As I intend starting for Harrisburg to-morrow, 
to join in the work of senator-making, I find it necessary to 
send you a few explanatory lines this evening. My worthy 
friend. Dr. McCay, promises to finish ofi' the pictures, and 
mail them to-morrow, so that you will receive them on 
Tuesday. 

The little half Jungle, or Grame Hen, has been already 
described, but I made a small mistake in regard to her 
weight. She looks so very little that I estimated her at two 
pounds, whereas, she draws three. Her feathers are extremely 
short and close, and her build compact and solid. Her off- 
spring out of blooded Cocks are the best Game Chickens I ever 
saw, I intend to cross her with the " Sammy Rusk'^ Stag, 
who, though only eight months old, weighs six and a half 
pounds. 

In regard to the Chittagongs, whose portraits will be sent 
you in a group, I have already written pretty fully. In the 
biggest sense of the word, they are majestic and noble-looking 
birds, and for Eggs, I will put the brown Pullet against the 
world. She has recovered from her sickness, and has resumed 
laying with as much, or more vigour than ever. The gray 
Pullet is also laying remarkably well, and has been, since the 
7th of December. This I take it, is good work for winter. The 
Stag, seven and a half months old, weighs nine and a half 
pounds, and, but for the hard service he has undergone since his 
iirrival at puberty, he would have drawn considerably more. 



268 THE GAME FOWL. 

He has been ninuiug with a dozen or more hiying Pullets. 
The brown Pullet, seven and a half months old, weighs nearly 
ei^ht pounds ; and the gnxy, less than seven months old, draws 
seven pounds and three ounces 

The Gray Eagle Stag I purchased from Miss Castor, will 
make a rouser. From his mai-ks, I take him to be an August 
Chicken, and he weighs already, (December 12th,) over seven 
pounds. He has not yet manifested the first symptom of vi- 
rility, if such a term can be applied to feathered bipeds. 

Of some smooth-legged Bantams, he says, " The G-erman- 
town Pigmies, after which we had so great a race, are doing 
amazingly well, and are much admired." 

****** 

****** 
I have just seen the portrait of my Chittagong : it is a beau- 
tiful pictm-e and a correct likeness, — with a slight exception ; 
but this can be remedied by the engraver. His head and head- 
<-Tear are a trifle too large, hut not much. His comb and wat- 
ties are really enormous, — as lai-ge as I ever saw them. My 
friend has grouped the three together, and it will be necessary 
to give them a whole page, lengthwise. As a work of art, and 
as excellent likenesses, they are well worthy of a place. Will 
the pictures, — the originals I mean, — be of any use to you after 
the book is published ? If not, I would like exceedingly well to 
have those we send, returned. I would like to hand them down to 
posterity, that my grandchildren might know what fine Chick- 
ens their gmndpappy raised. I think I fore-hear some one, a 
little older than the rest, bragging that granddad once helped 
a great wise Doctor write a book about Chickens and such-like, 
and then what a power of family pride there will be I A Hon 
couchant and a Rooster rampant will be the insignia of the 
House of Taggart. All hail to the illustrious successors of 
Columella and Aldrovandi I — the peers and compeers of 



THE GAME FOWL. 269 

Ruih, Link, Leonard, and Palmer ! * But a truce to jesting, 
and good-by. 

Yery truly your friend, 

David Taggart. 



* Famous Cockers, in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. The 
first is thought to keep the best game in the country. Mr. Taggart 
purchased a very fine pair of him, this winter, which he intends to 
breed pure with care.— Ep- 



270 



CHAPTER XIY 

THE CHITTAGONG FOWL. 

In and around Philadelphia, we have a large Fowl, to which 
the above name has been incorrectly given, as, on further ac- 
quaintance, it has proved to be a mongi-el, and, like most 
mongrels, comparatively worthless. Until within a short time, 
it went under various names, as Ostrich Fowl, the Turkey 
breed, the Big breed, the Booby, the Bucks County Fowl, and 
even the Malay. It is difficult to trace its history. Some forty 
years ago, several large Fowls were brought hither from differ- 
ent parts of China, the East Indies, and the adjacent isles ; 
subsequently, and within a few years, others were added. 
These all, except in a few cases, have been mixed, and breed 
indiscriminately ; and the result is the Fowl to which, accord- 
ing to the caprice of the people, the above names have been 
applied. It is of all colours, from black to white, frequently 
speckled, sometimes red and black, and again dun. When 
bred, it will generally produce its like in point of size, but 
rarely in point of colour, showing it, unquestionably, to be a 
mixture of several original breeds. They are not very good 
layers, though their Eggs are very large and rich. Their legs 
are sometimes lightly feathered, not always, and vary in colour 
from yellow to a dark or bluish hue. I once had a Fullet of 
this kind which weighed eleven and a quarter pounds ; the 



THE CHITTAGONG FOWL. 271 

usual weight for full grown males, is from ten pounds and a 
half to twelve pounds; females, from eight to ten pounds. 
They are generally quite leggy, standing some twenty-six 
inches high, and the Hens twenty-two inches. A first cross 
with the Shanghae would make a very larye and valuable bird 
for the table, not for breeding from. 

Mr. Taggart, of Northumberland, Pa., is disposed to think 
favourably of some Chittagongs he received from me, with a 
pair of Shanghaes. They are all yet quite young. He says : 
<^0f all large breeds, it strikes me the Chittagongs are most 
prolific. My Brown Pullet began to lay on the 19th of Octo- 
ber, when not much over five months old. In twenty-two 
days she laid eighteen Eggs, (or, I may say nineteen, for one 
was double,) and then began to sit. Her laying was after this 
fashion : 3, 3, 4, 3, 5. No doubt I could have kept her at it, 
by changing her nest from time to time. It is extraordinary 
that a Pullet of her age should lay lay so fast at this time of 
year. After incubating a week, she grew very sick, and I was 
forced to break her Eggs and take her ofi*. When she began 
to lay she weighed six and three-quarter pounds, now only five 
pounds. But she is recovering. 

"The Shanghae and the six-toed Chittagong Pullets are grow- 
ing finely — the first draws five and three-quarters, the other 
six pounds. But the Stags seem to have paused, the Chitta- 
gong at eight and a quarter pounds, the Shanghae at six and 
three-quarter pounds — he has always remained thin. I im- 
pute their present slow progress to their hard service. Quite 
a number of my Hens are laying, or preparing to lay, and these 
two gentlemen have a monopoly of the business.^^ 

Vide Mr. Taggart' s letters herein, for further remarks on 
this variety. 



272 THE SHAKEBAG FOWL. 



THE JAVA FOAVL. 

I KNOW not of any person in this country who can boast of 
having this Fowl in its purity. If the descriptions of it, as 
given by some, (^Willoughby among the rest,) be true, I am 
quite certain I have never seen it. He describes it as carrying 
its tail like a Turkey. A lady, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, 
who has had some choice foreign Poultry for the last thirty 
years, has a variety which she calls Java, but I am unable to 
discover any thing peculiar about them. They are of almost 
all colours, some feather-legged and some smooth ; comb and 
wattles as freely developed as in the Shanghae and Cochin 
China. Long Island, the head quarters of this variety, abounds 
in a stout black Fowl, single, serrated comb, and full wattles. 
I presume that, until we find a bird answering Willoughby's 
description, we must be content to call our large black Fowls, 
Javas. Those on Long Island might weigh, per pair, from 14 
to 16 lbs. The slightest trace of a top-knot is not to be tole- 
rated ; their legs are black and smooth. They are quite broad 
across the rump, and have, on that account, sometimes, been 
called "" Saddlebacks.'' Their practical qualities are good. 



THE SHAKEBAG FOWL, 

Commonly called the Duke of Leed's breed, is said by 
Mowbray to be extinct; if so, it will not be necessary to con- 
sume much of the reader's time in describing a Fowl which he 
may never see. As a mere matter of history, we may state 
that the Duke, being an enthusiastic Cock-fighter, was in tlie 
habit of bringing his Cocks into the Pit in a bag, against any 
that could be produced, and, when shaken out, from their supe- 



THE JER8E1-BLUE FOWL. 273 

rior strength and size, were found more than a match for anj 
competitor, and were subsequently denominated Shakebags. 
They were supposed to Ikj a cross of the Malay and English 
Game : some think that they arose merely from improving the 
size of the common Fowl, and not by any foreign cross. Mow- 
bray says, ''The only one I ever possessed was a red one, in 
1 784, weighing about 10 lbs., which was provided for me, at the 
price of one guinea, by GofF, the dealer, who then lived upon 
Holborn Hill, in London, and who, at the end of two years, re- 
ceived him back at half a guinea; having allowed me, in the 
interval, three shillings and six-pence each, for such thorough- 
bred Cock-Chickens as I choose to send him. At that time 
(1784) the real Duke of Leed's breed had become very scarce, 
which induced the dealers to put Shakebag Cocks to Malay 
Hens, by that means keeping up the original standard size, 
but entirely ruining the colour and delicate flavour of the flesh. 



JERSEY-BLUE FOWL. 

The colour of this variety is light blue, sometimes approach- 
ing to dun ; the tail and wings rather shorter than those of the 
common Fowl ; its legs are of various colours, generally dark, 
sometimes lightly feathered. Of superior specimens, the Cocks 
weigh from 7 to 9 lbs., and the Hens from 6 to 8 lbs. They 
are evidently mongrels ; and, though once a good deal thought 
of, yet, since the purer breeds, as the Shanghaes and Cochin 
Chinas, have been introduced, they begin to be neglected, as 
indeed all mongrels should be, so far as breeding from them is 
concerned. 



274 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE rOI^S-NP, OR POLISH FOWL. 

This Fowl is said to be quite uuknown in Poland, and that 
it takes its name from some resemblance having been fancied 
between its tufted ci*est and the square, spreading crown of the 
feathered caps worn by the Polish soldiers. The Hens I know 
to be among the very best layers, though their Eggs are not 
so rich and highly flavoured as some othei-s. They are gene- 
rally bad sitters, or, mther, ai-e not tiisposed to sit until late 
in the season. 

The best specimens are now procured from Holland; the 
country of the Bolton Grajs, Spangled Hamburghs, etc., etc. 
The Cock weighs about 4 or 41 lbs., and the Hen about 3 or 
3^ lbs. The crest of a well-bred Cock is parasol-shaped, 
hanging down over his beak and eyes, sm-rounded with a few 
black feathers, and fronted by a small spiked comb. The 
fleshy protuberance, out of which the crest grows, is usually 
called King David's Crown. The wattles are very largely 
developed; the legs are usually blue; the neck, body, and 
tail should be black, and the butt of the wing, bniss-marked. 
The skin and flesh ai*e white. Their form is plump aud deep, 
and the legs not very long. Mowbray says, "The Polanders 
are kept as ornamental, but they are also one of the most 
useful varieties, particularly on account of the abundance of 
Eggs they lay, being least inclined to sit, of any other bi-eed, 
whence they are sometimes called tverlastin<^ laj/trs; aud it is 



THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 275 

usual to set their Eggs under other Hens. They fatten as 
quickly as any other breed, and are in quality similar to the 
Dorking; their flesh perhaps more juicy, and of a richer 
flavour." There is an exception to almost every rule. I 
once had a choice Poland Hen that gave me more trouble in 
breaking up the sitting fever, and that, too, early in the 
season, than any Hen I had. In general, however, pure 
Polands are not inclined to sit until near or after midsummer ; 
consequently, they lay more Eggs than those that become early 
broody. 

The Eggs of this variety are of good size, and white ; but, 
as previously stated, they are not so rich as some others ; the 
yolks are of a pale straw-colour, and I have known the albu- 
minous part often to be quite watery. There is also a strong 
tendency of the white of the crest to mingle with the black 
of the body, and vice versa. I once saw some Fowls, said to 
be pure, of the stock of Mr. Bement, of Albany, of a reddish 
hue all over, from the yellow or brass marking on the butt of 
the wing mingling with the general plumage. The result of 
my experience is, that it is very difl&cult to keep the white, 
red, and black in their appropriate places, in breeding pure, 
well-marked Polish Fowls; but, when all are right, I know 
no more beautiful sight of the kind on a gentleman's lawn — 
they are living, walking Japonicas. 

Mr. Dixon, and his correspondents, will tell the rest of the 
story in relation to Polish Fowls. He says, " There is no evi- 
dence that any breed of Fowls with top-knots was known to 
the ancients ; but we first meet with them in the middle ages. 
Aldrovandi, quoted by Willughby, ^ in his Ornithology gives 
us many kinds, or rather rarities, of Hens. 1. A common 
Hen, but white and co][y[jed' This is the Lark-crested Barn- 
door Fowl. But Aldrovandi also gives two large spirited 
figures, each occupying the whole of his folio page, which he 



276 THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 

calls Padua Fowls, but in which we recognise what would now 
be called Polands." 

This is his description : — 

'' There exist Cocks for the most part larger than our own, 
which the common people call Paduan, even as such Hens are 
larger than our own Hens. We exhibit the likeness of the 
male and female. The male was most beautiful to behold, 
highly decorated with five colours, namely, black, white, green, 
red, and ochre. For the whole body was black. The neck 
was covered with very white feathers. But the wings and 
the back consisted partly of black, and partly of green. The 
tail likewise was of the same colour, but the roots of the 
feathers were whitish.* Some of the quill feathers (?) 
[f remigibus'J were white above. Its head was adorned with 
a very handsome crest; but the roots of the crest were white. 
A red spot encircled the eyes. The comb was very small ; 
the bill and feet yellowish. But in the whole Hen there was 
not the least white, except that white skin which is usual 
about the openings of the ears ; but she was altogether black, 
shining with green. The feet were light yellow ; the comb 
very small, and scarcely of a red-colour.^^ 

A difficulty about such varieties, recorded so long ago, is the 
doubt whether the Cock and Hen were really of the same breed. 

The Paduan Fowl has been continually mentioned as some- 
thing distinct and primitive, by those who have quoted Aldro- 
vandi at second hand; but we will, for the present, discard the 
term, and sweep the birds into the class of Polands. Whether 
the Polish Fowls were really first brought to us from Poland, I 
cannot yet trace; but the fact is quite possible. Fowls brought 
alive from India to Europe by overland journey, would suffer 

* An abundance of white down at tlie root of the tail-feathers is a 
great ornament in the Black Polish and Game Cocks, and a mark of 
breeding. 



THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 277 

less than such as were sent by sea round the Cape of Good 
Hope. At the end of each day's journey they could be lei 
loose immediately that the spot for the night-bivouac was fixed 
upon ; they would soon learn to return at dusk to their travel- 
ling Hen-house, and would be well refreshed against the next 
day's fatigue. Nor, indeed, is there any reason why Fowls 
should not permanently accompany wandering and unsettled 
tribes of men, who usually have other live-stock constantly in 
their train, as well as their wives and children. Mr. J. H. 
Drummond Hay found that the tent-occupying Arabs of 
"Western Barbary kept Fowls: — ^^ Every family," he says, 
*'has its brood of chickens, and these have their roosting 
quarters in a distant nook or compartment of the tent." In 
Russia, the finest teas are received overland from the East; 
nor is it improbable that a few Fowls may have been carried 
as far as the neighbouring country of Poland, after having 
accompanied some wealthy merchant, as live-stock to be eaten 
by the way in case of sickness, or short commons. But 
whether correct or not, it would be difficult now to alter their 
nomenclature. One of the Polish Fowls is supposed, by some 
writers, to be descended from the wild Cock of St. Jago. The 
assumed existence of such a bird is founded on an error : but 
if the Cocks of St. Jago are any thing akin to the goats which 
Captain Cook found there, " of the antelope kind, so extra- 
ordinarily lean that hardly any thing can equal them," the 
cross would be no great improvement. But I take it, that no 
existing wild Gallus has any more to do with the formation 
of our present breeds, than we have shown that the Pheasant 
has. Mowbray says, " Perhaps the genuine sort (of Polish) 
has always five claws ;" and he proceeds to derive " our famous 
Dorking breed" from them, with the reservation, however, 
that such a speculation may be groundless, which it decidedly 
is. For the fifth toe vanishes from the Dorkings at a very 
early stage of crossing with any other breed. 



278 THE POLANDj OR POLISH FOWL. 

The Black Polish Fowls are of a uniform black, both 
Cock and Hen, glossed with metallic green. The head is or 
namented with a handsome crest of white feathers, springing 
from a fleshy protuberance, and fronted more or less deeply with 
black. The comb is merely two or three spikes, and the wat- 
tles are rather small. Both male and female are the same in 
colour, except that the Cock has frequently narrow stripes of 
white in the waving feathers of the tail ; a sign, it is said, of 
true breeding. The Hens also have two or three feathers on 
each side of the tail, tinged in the tip with white. The Hens 
do not lay quite so early in the spring as some varieties, espe- 
cially after a hard winter ; but they are exceedingly good lay- 
ers, continuing a long time without wanting to sit, and laying 
rather large, very white sub-ovate Eggs. They will, however, 
sit at length, and prove of very diverse dispositions; some 
being excellent sitters and nurses, others heedless and spiteful. 
The Chicks, when first hatched, are dull black, with white 
breasts, and white down on the front of the head. They do 
not always grow and get out of harm's way so quickly as some 
other sorts, but are not particularly tender. In rearing a brood 
of these Fowls, one may observe some of the Hens with crests 
round and symmetrical as a ball, and others in which the 
feathers turn all ways, and fall loosely over the eyes : and in the 
Cocks, also, some have the crest falling gracefully over the 
back of the head, and others have the feathers turning about 
and standing on end ; these are to be rejected, the chief beauty 
of the sort depending on such little particulars. One Hen 
laid just a hundred Eggs, many of them on consecutive days, 
before wanting to incubate ; after rearing a brood successfully, 
she laid twenty-five Eggs before moulting in autumn. 

The Black-topped White Polish is now, it seems, lost 
to this country, if, indeed, there is any evidence of its having 
ever existed here. Buffon mentions them as if extant in 
France in his time. These and the Shackbags are probably re 



THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 279 

coverable only by importation from Asia. I am given to un- 
derstand, that an attempt will be made to reproduce them here 
by breeding. The experiment will be interesting either in its 
success or failure. 

The GtOLDEN Polands are sometimes called Gold-spangled, 
their plumage approaching to that of the Gold-spangled Ham- 
burghs } but many of the finest specimens have the feathers 
merely fringed with a darker colour, and the Cocks, much more 
frequently than the Hens, exhibit a spotted or spangled ap- 
pearance. Many of them are disfigured by a muff or beard ; 
but no such birds should be allowed the entree of the Poultry- 
yard, but dispatched at once to the fatting-coop. 

It is a question with the curious whether the muff at the 
throat is, or is not, an original appendage to these birds. The 
earliest figures with which I am acquainted (Aldrovandi's) in- 
crease the difficulty, by displaying a pair of Fowls, one with, 
and one without the muff. Albin (1736) figures a Cock ^' of 
a peculiar breed, which is brought from Hamburgh by our 
Merchants," with a short top-knot, a decided beard, and actual 
whishers, " a tuft of black feathers, which covered his ear.'' 
The Irish fanciers decide, that, in the same clutch of Chickens, 
the produce of the same parents, those which have beards in 
addition to their top-knots are to be called Hamburghs; those 
with top-knots only, Polish. Others say, that the beard comes 
from a cross with the Russian Fowl, which, as near as we can 
ascertain, is a bearded Dorking. A distinct race, of which the 
muff is one permanent characteristic, is not at present known. 
It is a frightful appendage, and not easily got rid of, if once 
introduced to a Poultry-yard : which makes me suspect either 
that the original Polish were beardless, or that there were two 
ancient races. 

The Golden Polands, when well- bred, are exceedingly hand- 
some ; the Cock having golden hackles, and gold and brown 
feathers on the back ; breast and wings richly spotted with 



280 THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 

ochre and dark brown ; tail darker ; large golden and brown 
crest, falling back over the neck ; but little comb and wattles. 
The Hen is richly laced with dark brown or black on an ochre 
ground; dark-spotted crest; legs light-blue, very cleanly 
made, and displaying a small web between the toes, almost as 
proportionally large as that in some of the waders. They are 
good layers, and produce fair-sized Eggs. Many of them make 
excellent mothers, although you cannot always get them to sit 
early in the season. The Chicks are rather clumsy-looking 
little animals, of a dingy brown, with some dashes of ochre 
about the head, breast, and wings. They are sometimes a little 
apt to die in the first week of their existence, but afterwards 
get tolerably hardy, although liable to make a stand-still when 
about half-grown. 

It has been observed as a peculiarity in the temper of this 
breed, that if you catch one of them, or if one is attacked by 
any animal, the rest, whether Cocks or Hens, will instantly 
attack the aggressor with fury, and endeavour to rescue their 
unfortunate companion. 

The Silver Polands are similar to the preceding in shape 
and markings, except that white, black, and gray, are ex- 
changed for ochre or yellow, and various shades of brown. 
They are even more delicate in their constitution, more liable 
to remain " fixed '^ at a certain point of their adolescence, and 
still more requii'e and will repay extra care and accommodation. 
Their top-knots are not perhaps in general so large ; but they 
retain the same neat bluish legs and slightly-webbed feet. It 
is curious that a bird which is quite incapable of swimming 
should have webs on its feet, while the G-allinule, which swims 
and dives well, has none. The Hens of the Silver Polands 
are much more ornamental than the Cocks ; though even they 
are sure to attract notice. They may certainly be ranked 
among the choicest of Fowls, whether we consider their beauty 
or their rarity. They lay moderate-sized, French-white Eggs, 



THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 281 

much pointed at one end, in tolerable abundance, and, when 
they sit, acquit themselves respectably. 

The new-hatched Chicks are very pretty ; gray, with black 
eyes, light lead-coloured legs, and a swelling of down on the 
crown of the head, indicative of the future top-knot, which is 
exactly the colour of a powdered wig, and indeed gives the 
Chick the appearance of wearing one. They are easily enough 
reared for the first six weeks or two months ; the critical time 
with them being the interval between that age and their reach- 
ing their fifth or six month. At a very early age they acquire 
their peculiar distinctive features, and are then the most ele- 
gant little miniature Fowls it is possible to imagine. The 
distinction of sex is not very manifest till they are nearly full 
grown ; the first observable indication being in the tail. That 
of the Pullet is carried uprightly, as it ought to be, but in the 
Cockerel it remains depressed, awaiting the growth of the 
sickle feathers. The top-knot in the Cockerels is more pendent 
backwards than in the Pullets. It is remarkable that the 
Golden Polish Cock brings as true Silver Chicks, and those 
stronger, with the Silver Polish Hen, as the Silver Polish 
Cock would. 

The Silver Polands have all the habits of their Grolden com- 
panions ; the main diflPerence being the silvery ground, instead 
of the golden. The Silver variety will sometimes even make 
its appearance if you breed merely the Golden sort, exactly as 
the Black Polish produce now and then some pure White 
Chicks that make very elegant birds. An attempt has been 
made to obtain the black top-knotted White Polish from these, 
by acting on the imagination of the parents. The experiment 
failed, though similar schemes have been said to succeed with 
animals ; it proved, however, one thing — namely, that it will 
not do to breed from the White Polish as a separate breed. 
Being Albinos, the Chicks come very weakly, and few survive. 



282 THE POLAND/ OR POLISH FOWL. 

On the other hand, trust to chance for an occasional white one 
among the black, and you get a fine bird. 

There is a singular variety of the Polish, which has the en- 
tire plumage of a uniform slaty-dun colour. Other curious 
combinations of colour are probably to be found here and there, 
in the hands of careful breeders. One has been lately raised 
in which the golden-plumage has been crowned by a large 
globe-shaped white crest of dense features ; how long this will 
continue permanent, remains to be tested. There was also a 
breed, called after Lord Erdley, which obtained a prize at one 
of the Poultry-shows in the Zoological G-ardens. 

The Polish are chiefly suited for keeping in a small way, 
and in a clean and grassy place. They are certainly not so 
fit for the yard of the farmer, becoming blinded and miserable 
with dirt. It is a main point to procure them genuine, as the 
degenerate things one sees in towns are frequently palmed on 
the buyer instead of the handsome, deep-bodied, short-legged 
variety. I have seen a slight sub-variety, having the crest 
entirely white, but inferior in shape and beauty. Indeed 
there is no breed of Fowls more disfigured by mongrelism than 
this. The Polish will, without any cross-breeding, occa- 
sionally produce white stock that are very pretty, and equally 
good for laying, &c. It is singular, however, that if you 
attempt to make a separate breed of them, they become puny 
and weak. It is better for those who wish for them to depend 
upon chance : every brood almost of the black producing one 
White Chick, strong and lively as the rest. 

The Polish Fowls are excellent for the table, the flesh being 
white, tender, and juicy ; but they are quite unsuitable for 
being reared in any numbers, or for general purposes : they 
are so capricious in their growth, frequently remaining ^^ stuck," 
as the country people call it, for a whole month, without get- 
ting bigger, and this when about a quarter or half grown, the 
time of their life when they are most liable to disease. As 



THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 283 

aviary birds, they are unrivalled among Fowls. Their plumage 
often requires a close inspection to appreciate its elaborate 
beauty ; and the confinement and petting seems less uncon- 
genial to their health. We would recommend persons whose 
accommodation for Poultry is very limited, to select some 
pretty family of Polanders, and keep them on the aviary sys- 
tem ', when it will be found that their plumage improves in 
beauty with almost every moult. 

But a great merit of all the Polish Fowls is this : that for 
three or four years they go on growing and gaining in size, 
hardiness, and beauty, especially the male birds. This fact, 
which any amateur can verify for himself by observation, as- 
suredly points out a very wide deviation in constitution from 
those Fowls which attain their full stature and perfect plumage 
in twelve or fifteen months. The similarity of colouring in 
the two sexes, almost a specific distinction of Polish, and, per- 
haps, Spanish Fowls, also separates them from those breeds, as 
the Game, in which the Cocks and Hens are remarkably dis- 
similar. An additional recommendation to the Polish is, that 
their edible qualities are as super-excellent compared with 
other Fowls, as their outward apparel is superior in elegance, 
— a point which is recorded here not from mere hearsay ; al- 
though, to confirm it, Temminck quotes Sonnini's information 
that the Polish Fowls (les Coqs huppes) are highly esteemed 
in Egypt for the goodness of their flesh ; and are so abundant 
in Upper Egypt as to be sold for 2id. or Sd. each. At the 
Cape of Grood Hope this breed is equally cultivated. 

Polish Fowls are also currently reported as everlasting lay- 
ers, which further fits them for keeping in small enclosures ; 
but, as in the Hamburghs, individual exceptions are often met 
with, however truly the habit may be ascribed to the race. 
" I only know of the Grolden-spangled, Silver-spangled, and 
Black Poland that are everlasting layers, though of the Black, 
I believe there are two varieties, one smaller than the other. 



284 THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 

The small ones are of a purer black, with larger top-knots, and 
I think I have heard they are truer everlasting layers than the 
large variety. Some of the large ones have slight white tips 
to a few of their feathers. I am altogether unable to point out 
any difference between the Polanders that are everlasting 
layers, and those that are not ; for I have seen several that 
apparently were pure bred, that were as much inclined to sit 
as any other Fowls." — J. S. W. 

Both the Poland and the Lark-crested Fowls are, in Nor- 
folk, trivially called " Copplecrowns/'* 

Before taking leave of the full- sized Fowls, it may be ob- 
served that the initiated can often distinguish the various 
breeds unseen, by their crow. A friend remarks, " there is 
an Italian proverb : ' as the old Cock crows, so crows the young ;' 
and indeed the voice may be considered as a tolerably fair 
guide for ascertaining whether the different breeds of Domestic 
Fowl are genuine or not. Amongst individual Cocks of the 
same variety, there will, indeed, be frequently slight variations 
in the tone of crowing ; but yet, a person having any thing of 
a correct ear, may easily trace the family croio throughout. 
Thus, the Game breeds that I have kept, have always rather a 
a shrill, but not inharmonious crow, with a very peculiar, 

^ In the "Tournament of Tottenham, or, the Wooing, Winning, 
and Wedding of Tibbe, the Reeve's daughter there," an old bur- 
lesque ballad, the Reeve says : — 

" Whoso berys hym best in the turnament, 
Hym schal be granted the gre be the comon assent, 
For to Wynne my dozter wyth dughtynesse of dent, 
And ' coppelV my hrode-lienne that was hrozt out of Kent : 
And my dunnyd kovre 
For no spens wyl I spare, 
For no cattell wyl I care. 
He schall have my gray mare. 
And my spottyd sowe." 



THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 285 

abrupt termination. The Blue Duns have somewhat the same 
style of crowing, but with a more regular and gradual finale. 
Cocks of the Silver Hamburg variety are generally even more 
shrill than the two last mentioned, giving, however, a longer 
finishing note. The Polish are not, I think, remarkable for 
melody in crowing; they are harsh-toned, and frequently lack 
that agreeably sounding turn in the crow, that you hear in the 
Game and Hamburg, and others. The Spanish, also, though 
professing to come from a rich land in musical ability, are not 
highly gifted with vocal powers. Their crowing is loud, in- 
deed, and not so very shrill, but squally and grating to the 
ear. Some few individuals are better and richer in tone, but 
those are the exceptions not the rule. The Malay's voice is 
hoarse, and not so loud as, from the size of the bird, might be 
expected ; while that of the noble Cochin China is deep-toned, 
mellow, and prolonged, like the closing note of an accom- 
plished singer. Bamtams are more varied in their crowing 
powers than any of the breeds above mentioned ; but one I 
possessed some years since, was so particularly musical, that 
his crow sounded like two or three bars of an air whistled in 
a mellow key. It has, I believe, been universally remarked, 
that the Domestic Cock always claps the wings before, and the 
Pheasant after crowing. The Cock, however, as I have often 
noticed, will frequently give another clapping after the song 
is ended. These birds must sleep very lightly and watchfully, 
as, the instant an individual, roosting separately and at a dis- 
tance, begins his clamour, the others answer, and the concert 
spreads from farm to farm, throughout the village. To hear 
this natural alarum-bell ringing far and wide, between ten and 
twelve o'clock on a December's night, is singular enough. 
The cause of these birds thus forestalling their morning 
note of gratulation, has not yet, I think, been satisfactorily 
explained. 

" The growth of the spur in the gallinaceous order of birds 



286 THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL. 

is often irregular and unaccountable. Among Fowls, especially, 
it is a very misleading guide to denote the age. You may see 
an old Hen, eight or twelve years of age, without the slightest 
semblance of a spur; and again, in a last year's Hen, you may 
observe them of some length ; and even in a Pullet of the same 
season, (as in the case of one of the Game Pullets you sent 
me,) the spur is highly developed. The same remarks will 
apply, though in a less degree, to Cocks also. Many are the 
persons who have been thus wofully deceived when purchasing 
Pheasants for the table; as they afterwards find to their 
annoyance, when the bird is undergoing the process of masti- 
cation."—^. H. 



287 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HAMBURGH FOWLS. 

THE SPANGLED HAMBURGH FOWL. 

This beautiful variety is distinguished from other members 
of the same family, by their large top-knots being coloured 
instead of white, and the black and conspicuous muffle or 
ruff on the throat and under the beak. There are two kinds, 
the golden and silver spangled ; the ground of the feathers of 
the golden spangled being a rich yellow, approaching to an 
orange-red, with black spots or spangles. The silver spangled 
differs from the preceding, by the ground of the feathers being 
a silvery white. The comb, as in other highly-crested Fowls, 
is quite small : the wattles are also diminutive; legs generally 
blue } skin and flesh white ; Eggs a moderate size, but abun- 
dant; Chickens easily reared. In and about New York, a 
few years since, this Fowl abounded — both the golden and sil- 
ver varieties. They may weigh, say, three and a half pounds, 
for the female, and from four and a half to five and -a half 
for the male. The Cock stands some twenty inches high, and 
the Hen about eighteen inches.* 



288 HAMBURGH FOWLS. 



THE BOLTON GRAY, OR CREOLE FOWL. 

The Bolton G-ray or Creole Fowl is sometimes called 
Dutch Every-day-layers, Pencilled Dutch Fowl, Chittaprats, &c. 
They were originally imported from Holland to Bolton, a 
town in Lancashire, England, whence they are named. The 
ground colour is pure white, minutely shot or touched with 
black, except on the neck, giving rise to the name Pencilled 
Fowl, and from the frequency of their being brought over to 
London, by Rotterdam steamers, they are called " Dutch Pen- 
cilled .Fowl,'' or ^^ Dutch Every-day-layers." A good Cock of 
this breed may weigh from four to four and a half pounds, 
and a Hen from three to three and a half pounds. I have 
found them good layers, but thought the Eggs to be watery 
and innutritious. I wrote to a friend, who knows the Fowl 
well, having kept the variety for several years, and his reply 
is, — " Of the richness of Creole Eggs, compared with those of 
less prolific breeds, I am scarcely able to speak. Though I 
have owned Creoles for a dozen years, I have never made any 
careful comparison. But, from analogy, I would infer that an 
Egg would prove rich in proportion as it was small, compared 
with the Hen that produced it, caeteris paribus. A Cow, 
nearly dry, generally gives much richer milk than one that 
yields abundantly. 

^'The superiority of a Creole Hen does not consist as much 
in rapid as in co7itinued laying. She may not produce as 
many Eggs in a month, as some other kinds, but she will lay 
more months in the year than probably any other variety. 
I have had Creoles seven or eight years old, that never became 
broody, and which have laid, in that time, at least six hun- 
dred Eggs, in this fashion : — First year, one hundred and 
eighty or two hundred. Second, one hundred and fifty. 
Third, one hundred to one hundred and twenty. Fourth, 



HAMBURGH FOWLS. 289 

seventy or eighty. Fifth, forty or fifty. Sixth, eighteen or 
twenty. Seventh, almost total barrenness. This statement 
shows the extreme folly of keeping Hens, after the third, or 
even the second year. For, besides the great falling off in 
Eggs, these are apt to prove infertile when laid by super- 
annuated Hens.'^ 

Mr. Dixon, in writing on the whole family of Hamburgh 
Fowls, to which the Bolton Grays and so-called Silver and 
G-olden Pheasants belong, says : — First, of the Bolton Grays, 
" The Hen has a rose comb, pure white neck and breast, and 
the rest of the body most exquisitely pencilled with bluish slate- 
colour and white, legs light blue. The Cock has the back and 
neck greyish white; breast and wings slightly spotted, tail 
nearly black, fine double comb. These Fowls are the most 
perfect patterns of neatness in make, and are under the ave- 
rage size. They are excellent layers, and pretty fair mothers; 
Eggs rather small, French-white, and slightly tapering at one 
end. The Chicks are white, except a dark streak on the head, 
and down the nape of the neck — a curious fact, as, when adult, 
this is the only part without dark markings. When their 
little barred wings begin to appear, they are very pretty ; but 
are certainly rather difficult to rear, many of those I have had 
dying off when a quarter grown, from some cause, the only 
symptom being the skin's turning black. 

^^ There is also a spurious breed of this variety sold in towns, 
that are larger, but by no means so neatly made ; the necks 
mixed with specks, and the slate and white markings confused 
on the body. They are beautifully distinct in the true sort. 
We have found the Creoles very good eating.'' — H. H. 

In the neighbourhood of Keighley, in Yorkshire, on the bor- 
ders of Lancashire, the Bolton Grays are called " Chittiprats," 
or " Cheteprats.'' Prizes are given for the best by the Keighley 
Agricultural Society, and the opinion of them current there, 
is, that they are very handsome, very hardy, and excellent 

25 



290 HAMBURGH FOWLS. 

layers. In other parts of the kingdom, they are known by the 
trivial name of "Narrowers/^ 

Prince Albert's breed, so named by Mr. Smith, formerly of 
the Hippodrome, near London, are Bolton G-rays, that are 
said to be crossed with a dash of Game blood, to improve their 
form. They are not to be distinguished from the Silver 
Spangled Hamburghs. 

We take the liberty of extracting another account of them, 
from the Agricultural Gazette, for Oct. 14, 1848: — 

" The Silver (Hamburgh) Fowls are worthy of notice, both 
on account of their beauty and productiveness; they are small- 
bodied, have short blue legs, a very pretty head, with a full 
comb, and a remarkably short bill, rounded, and shaped some- 
what like a sparrow's; their colour white, with very regular 
black dots or moons on their wings and tail. They lay well ; 
mine commenced early in February, and are laying now, 
(Oct. 3;) they do not show any inclination to sit; but in a 
hatch, their Eggs are very productive. I have had fourteen 
Chicks out of fifteen Eggs. It is necessary to keep, a G-ame 
Hen or two, to perpetuate the breed, (by hatching the Eggs, 
which they will not often do for themselves.) I find rice, at 
12s. to 14s. per cwt., soaked all night in water, and then rolled 
in Indian meal, a very economical and fattening food, occa- 
sionally mixed with a little barley. My Hens would have 
commenced laying earlier in the season, if their roosting-place 
had been warmer." — W. X. 

Aldrovandi's account of his Turkish Fowls, is as follows : — 
" On the Turhish Coch, and tioo TurJdsh Hens. The Cock, 
whose likeness we now give, is called the Turkish Cock. His 
whole body was, in a manner, inclined to white. Still, the 
wing feathers were partly black, the belly also was black ;* 

* Had I been aware that your mind was not quite made up as to 
the identity of the Bolton Grays with the Silver Hamburghs, I would 



HAMBURGH FOWLS. 291 

the tail consisted of feathers that were partly green, partly 
black, some also half-green, some half-black. His whole body 
was exquisitely adorned with lines, that were sometimes golden, 
and sometimes silver, and it is wonderful what a beautiful 
effect this produced. His legs and feet were tinged with blue. 
The Hen, which, in like manner, was called Turkish, was all 
white, sprinkled over with black spots ; the feet tinged with 
blue : the wattles were short, when compared with those of 
the male. The next Hen would seem the same, except that 
her neck was yellowish, and she had a sharp point on the top 
of her head, her feet altogether blue, and an immaculate tail. 

" I have observed another Hen of this kind, whose feet were 
entirely blue, spotted in the same manner as the foregoing, 
with black and white; but behind its fleshy crest, it had 
another of white feathers, like a Lark, and that part of the 
neck and shoulders, which in the other is black, in this changing 
from ash-colour to dirty yellow.'^ 

It is a pity the description is not more precise. It is not 
clear whether the gold and silver lines are intended to be in 
the same or different birds. The reader may question the cor- 
rectness of my translation ; but Aldrovandi's large wood-cuts 
remove all doubt as to the variety intended. The figures given 
are evidently the Hamburghs, the Hens, one Golden and one 
Silver. The very peculiar form of the comb, so recognisable 
at the present time, is clearly marked in these old wood-cuts. 
The fleshy rose comb of the Hamburghs terminating in a sharp 
point behind, like the corner of a cocked hat turning upwards, 
and which is seen in no other variety of Fowl, is well described 
by " apicem in vcrtice geritJ' The smaller, and occasionally 
more semicircular comb of the Silver Hamburgh Hens, is well 
delineated in the Turkish Hen. 



have written to Mr. M. to look out for a white-breasted Cock, but I 
begged him to send you a black-breasted one, if possible. — J. S. W. 



292 HAMBURGH FOWLS. 

Bolton Bay is another provincial term for tlie Golden Ham- 
burgh, as Bolton Gray is for the Silver. In order clearly to fix 
the momenclature, by the comparison of individual specimens 
of difi*erent localities, I purchased in Hungerford market, some 
birds that had been imported from Holland, another specimen 
of Herring in the New Boad, and lately have been kindly sup- 
plied with a pair of Bays, and also of Grays, from Bolton, in 
Lancashire, and also with a Creole Hen from Wiltshire. The 
result of the comparison, and of the unanimous opinion of the 
London Poulterers, is, that the varieties of Hamburgh, two 
Golden and two Silver, include all these synonyms. The Bol- 
ton Bay from Lancashire, differed most in her markings from 
the normal type, which we will suppose represented by Aldro- 
vandi's Turkish Hen ; but all the main points were correct, 
and for this difference I had been prepared. " When you re- 
ceive your Boltons, be sure that you do not draw any conclu- 
sions from their colour alone, for that is extremely varied. 
Many are quite as handsomely marked as the Spangled Poland 
or the Pheasant Malay." The Bay Hen I received, was marked 
very like a Golden Poland, (the crest, of course, being quite 
absent,) but that the ground of the plumage was of much richer 
and browner hue. Those persons, therefore, who wish to pro- 
cure Hamburgh Fowls from Lancashire, should be precise in 
their instructions, according to the description shortly to be 
given. The Bolton Fowls average in that town 3s. each, which 
is cheap for those who wish to obtain a stock of any of these 
very distinct varieties. All the birds that I received were 
very good specimens. The male Golden Hamburgh is a par- 
ticularly beautiful creature ; nothing but a full-sized coloured 
drawing can give an adequate idea of the extremely rich colour- 
ing and brilliant lustre of his plumage. It has been men- 
tioned in the previous note, that the males of the Bolton Grays 
differ somewhat in the quantity of black, or dark gray which 
they wear, as also do those of the Silver Spangled. The Hens, 




1^ _^-^v 



WAITTSc 




HAMBURG FOWLS. 



HAMBURGH FOWLS. 293 

too, vary slightly, but the difference is hardly more than would 
be seen amongst a brood of Chickens reared from the same 
pair of Fowls. The Creole from the south of England was a 
very well-bred specimen, having the peculiar comb, pointed 
behind, described and figured by Aldrovandi. 

A Golden Spangled Hamburgh Cock, from Lancashire, of 
the sub-variety, there called " Moss Fowl," has a large very 
double comb, pointed behind upwards, flat on the top, but co- 
vered with small upright points ; the wattles are large, and there 
is a small white ear-patch. The bill is short and lead-coloured; 
feet and legs also lead-coloured. Irides, orange-brown. The 
hackle is composed of a mixture of brown, black, yellow, and 
green ; back the same, only darker. Tail, black, glossed with 
green, and having gray down at the base of the feathers. 
Quills of the wings, chesnut; wing coverts, metallic black; 
breast, and under part of the body, black. 

The Hamburghs are commonly set down as everlasting lay- 
ers. But no strictly universal rule, that will apply without 
fail to every case, can be laid down for Fowls, any more than 
for men. Here, however, is decided evidence : — " I have sufli- 
cient experience of the Bolton Fowls myself, to enable me to 
say that they are everlasting layers, when pure bred. My 
father had some very handsome Fowls, a cross between them 
and a large Poland Hen, that was slightly inclined to sit. I can 
recommend this cross to the notice of those who wish a larger 
breed than the Bolton. By retaining those with the largest 
top-knots, a variety with large top-knots could soon be ob- 
tained. (Yes, but could it be retained ?) Some of the Bol- 
ton Grray Cocks have black tails and breasts, and others have 
the breasts mottled black and white : when these also have 
cream-coloured hackles, I think them very handsome. As to 
the occasional variation in the comb, I incline to the opinion 
that Hens more frequently come single-combed than Cocks, 
in breeds like the Hamburgh and the Malay." — J. JS. W. 

25» 



294 



HAMBURGH FOWLS. 



The Hamburgh Fowls are, beyond all other breeds, especial 
favourites in the Midland and Northern Counties; they are 
zealously cultivated there in all their sub- varieties ; and a visit 
to the great Birmingham show, having afforded a good oppor- 
tunity of comparing their markings and nomenclature, a sort 
of family tree of the breed is given for the guidance of distant 
Fanciers. We comprise the whole race under the denomina- 
tion of 



HAMBUEGHS. 



Pencilled Fowls, 

WITH light hackle, 



Spangled Fowls, 
with darker hackli^ 



tha 


tis, 


that is, 


Either pure 1 
White hackle, f 


_ J Clear unmixed 
= 1 Ochrey Yellow. 


1 Either White 1 f Yellow hackle, 
hackle, striped in 1 >h ) striped in the 
the centre with [ ■= 1 centrewith Black, 
Black, J [ Brown, or Green. 


Chittaprat. 


Bolton Bays. 


Silver Spangled. 


Gold Spangled. 


Bolton Grrays. 


Golden Ham- 


" Pheasant. 


" Pheasant. 


Pencilled Dutch. 


burgh. 


" Moonies. 


" Moonies. 


Silver Hamburgh. 




" Moss. 


Bed Caps. 


Creole, or Coral. 




N.B. The Adult 
Cocks have in 
some families pure 
white hackle. 


Copper Moss. 



The terms "Silver and Gold Pheasant" are admitted into this 
list, simply to point out what they are not: the sooner they 
are discarded, the better. Mr. James Bissell, of Bradford 
Street, Birmingham, an enthusiastic and able amateur, thus 
gives his opinion : — 

" I like very much your forming the Moonies, Moss Fowl, 
Chittaprats, and Bolton Bays, into one family of Hamburghs, 
and think you will, with a careful specification of the sub- 
varieties, for ever set this point in dispute at rest. I can see 
no objection (except old associations) why the term ^Pheasant' 
should not at once be abandoned in both the Silver and 
Golden varieties ; it has doubtless given rise to much that is 



HAMBURGH FOWLS. 295 

equivocal and often false. [We have had Fowls sent ns from 
long distances to convince us of the amalgamation of Phasianic 
with Grallic blood, when, lo! the specimens, on jumping out 
of their hamper, were very handsome " Moss Fowls/^] But the 
Fowl known in this neighbourhood and in the Northern Coun- 
ties under that term, of both colours, Silver and Golden, I be- 
lieve to be as permanent as any variety we have, and their 
qualifications equal, if not superior to any Fowl I have ever met 
with; therefore I am anxious that they should be as accu- 
rately described as the Bolton Bays and Bolton Grays, for I can 
assure you that in the Midland Counties, and northwards, they 
have been, and still are, more extensively kept and more highly 
prized than all the other varieties of fancy Fowl put together; 
and almost universally has there been the inquiry why they 
have not found a place in the classification of Domestic Poultry 
by the various writers upon the subject. 

^'You appear to have thought that the name of Moonies 
was attached to the Silver »zo?i-Pheasants only, and that of 
Moss to the Golden 7?o?^-Pheasants only, whereas both these 
names are applied to either variety ; as, for example, the same 
birds are called Silver Moss and Silver Moonies, and if the 
colour be golden, they are called Copper Moss and Golden 
Moonies — the terms Moss and Moonies being synonymous, and 
as applicable to the Silver as the Golden-spangled variety. 
There can be but one opinion as to dividing them into the two 
distinct varieties of colour, viz., Golden Hamburghs and Silver 
Hamburghs, and we shall find the characteristics of the Ham- 
burgh breeds, whereby we distinguish them from all other 
varieties, as uniform and true of the one colour as the 
other, and will always be distinct and apparent in the sub- 
varieties. 

" All Hamburghs must possess a very neat, florid rose or 
double comb, not too large and bulky, which terminates in a 
fine upward-tending point at the back of the head, which 



296 HAMBURGH FOWLS. 

gives an exquisite finish to their appearance, pure white deaf- 
ears, or ear-lobes, and light slaty-coloured blue legs. With- 
out the whole of the above characteristics, I should deem them 
impure, and not worth breeding from ; and I consider these 
three qualities indispensable in the genuine Humburgh Fowl. 
I think we should avoid splitting them into too many sub- 
varieties, and beg to submit this simple mode of doing so 
under each variety of colour. Two sub-varieties of this Fowl 
will be clearly identified under the definitions of Pencilled and 
Spangled Hamburghs, and will embrace all the specimens I 
have yet seen or heard of; thus, in the Chittaprats and Bolton 
Bays we have the Pencilled Hamburghs, in the Moss and 
Moonies we have the Spangled Hamburghs. The marking 
2ind characteristics of each sort I will now describe. 

^'Silver Pencilled Hartihurghs are about the size of ordinary 
Game Fowl, and, when quite pure, are (with the other varie- 
ties of Hamburgh Fowl) the most prolific layers we have. 
Their ground colour is pure white ; the Cock has very little 
black upon him at all; the whole of the neck and saddle 
hackles, breast, and back purely white, and not (as in some 
specimens that have been shown as genuine birds) marked or 
pencilled upon the breast. This defect will always produce 
imperfect birds. The only parts that should have any black 
upon them are the wings and tail; the former should be barred 
across with black, and the latter should be black, with the 
feathers edged with white, gradually blended into the black. 
The Hen should have a pure white neck ; and spots of black 
upon the hackles very much detract from the purity and 
beauty of the Fowl, and should therefore be strictly guarded 
against and rejected. The whole of the body, wings, and tail 
should be delicately but distinctly pencilled with clear black 
upon a clear white ground ; and there are in general about 
five such distinct pencillings or bars across each feather upon 
the body, the extremes being marked the most distinctly. The 



HAMBURGH FOWLS. 297 

flight-feathers of the wings, and the tail-feathers should be 
barred all the way up them. 

" Golden Pencilled HamhurgJis are in all respects, except the 
ground colour, the same as the Silver Pencilled Hamburgh. 
It is a qualification that we should be very tenacious about, 
that the Pencilled Hamburgh Cock, either Grolden or Silver, 
should not have any marking of black upon him, except upon 
his wings: for if he has, we shall be disappointed in his 
progeny, as he will evidently produce spurious birds. 

^^ Silver Spangled HamhurgJis. — These, in their general form 
and carriage, very closely resemble the Silver Pencilled, of 
which they are a sub-variety, their size being in general a 
little larger. The ground colour of the Cock is clear white, 
beautifully spangled with one spot or spangle of clear black 
upon each feather, which is more distinct and beautiful upon 
the breast than on any other part of him. The hackles of 
the neck and saddle are striped down the centre with black, 
and clearly marginated with white, the tail-feathers mottled 
with black and white, the black preponderating; the comb 
double, and pointing upwards at the back of the head, but not 
• too large and ponderous ', ear-lobes quite white, and the legs 
of a quiet light-blue colour. 

" The Hen of this beautiful variety is one of the most splendid 
and attractive-looking birds of her species, being regularly 
spotted or spangled with one spot or spangle only of clear black 
upon each clear white feather, all over her body, from her 
head to the end or tip of her tail ; and here I would observe, 
that the distinctive marks of difference between the Silver 
Pencilled Hamburgh Hens are these (they also apply to the 
Golden variety) : the hackles of the Silver Pencilled Ham- 
burghs are purely white, while the hackles of the Silver Span- 
gled Hamburghs are regularly and distinctly marked with 
black ] the other distinction is, that the Pencilled Hamburghs 
have five or six bars or pencillings across each feather of the 



298 HAMBURGH FOWLS. 

body, while tlie Spangled Hamburglis have only one distinct 
spot or spangle upon each of their feathers. 

^' Some of the purest and best bred of the Spangled variety 
produce Cocks which, when adult, have purely white hackles 
on the neck and saddle, but which, while Chickens in their 
first feather, have all the feathers of the neck and saddle 
slightly spangled with black, but their adult hackles come 
pure white. [We have known Chickens of this breed pass 
through changes of colour much resembling those of young 
Gruinea Fowl.] 

^^ The Golden Spangled Hamhurghs diifer in nothing except 
the ground colour of the body from the Silver Spangled. 
While it is expedient to abandon their provincial names, I 
cannot too strongly urge the necessity of attaching a proper 
importance to this variety of Domestic Poultry. They are 
beautiful looking Fowls, excellent layers, and although not so 
large, are as good a table Fowl, in quality and juiciness of 
flesh, as the Dorking, and come quite as early to maturity.^' 

The Red Caps in our list are a family of the breed, with 
their combs somewhat more developed than would be con- 
sidered as a model in Mr. Bissell's valuable communication. 
The Silver Pencilled may fairly be called a tender breed ; but 
they will well repay a little extra care and attention, which 
indeed they may be said absolutely to require. Like the 
Bantams, they will occasionally produce single-combed Chicks ; 
such are considered as aberrant, ill-bred, and to be rejected. 
Aldrovandi has figured a single-combed Hen as one of his 
Turkish Fowls. 



299 



CHAPTER XVII. 

. THE RUMPLESS FOWL, OR RUMKIN. 

Blaine, in his EncyclopEedia of Rural Sports, (London, 
1840,) says, ^^ Of the feathered tribes of Ceylon, the most re- 
markable is the tailless Cocky (Gallus ecaudatus, Temm. fig. 
25,) at present, we believe, only known in its wild state in the 
forests,^^ &c. It may appear too skeptical in us to question 
whether it be now to be found wild in the forests of Ceylon,* 

* It is hardly possible to cavil at Temminck's evidence of its ex- 
istence there. In reply to Buffon's fairy tale that Cocks, when trans- 
ported to Virginia, lose that portion of their person on which the tail 
grows — a romance that seems to have imposed on the sober Doctor 
Latham — he says, "We can positively state that Buffon's opinion 
has not been confirmed ; this Rumpless Cock was not originated in 
the New World, since the primitive species inhabits the Island of 
Ceylon ; the Hen makes her nest on the ground ; it is rudely con- 
structed with fine grass, and resembles the nest of Partridges. The 
disposition of this bird is wild ; the Cock frequently utters his crow, 
which, though less sonorous than that of our Domestic Cocks, has 
still the same cadence. The Cingalese designate this species by the 
name of Wallikikili, which means. Cock of the Woods. The distinct- 
ive characters of this species consist in the want of the last vertebra 
of the back, on which grows the carnosity that we term * rump :' 
the absence of this vertebra is the natural cause that Cocks and 
Hens of this species are without the caudal feathers, as well as all 
the coverts, which in other birds are planted on the rump : this species 



300 THE RUMPLESS FOWL. 

but it certainly has been extant in Europe for the last two or 
three hundred years. In the spring of 1848, a pair of very 
good specimens, with brown and white plumage, were exhibited 
at the Surrey Zoological G-ardens, and labelled as '^from 
Persia." Twenty or thirty years ago, when weavers and other 
artificers took more delight in tulip-beds, stages of auriculas, 
and Fancy Fowls and Pigeons, than in the Physical v. Moral 
Force Question, I have frequently seen gray-plumaged Kum- 
kins, as well as Frizzled Fowls and other curiosities, walking 
about the streets, and " plains," and churchyards of Norwich. 
Those sources of amusement are now much neglected. But 
if the Rumkin be really a remnant of the original Fauna of 
Ceylon, it will be a pity if it be suffered to become extinct, 
although it be one of Blumenbach's defective monsters, (moll- 



is also distinguished from the other Cocks that we have described, by 
having his comb round, and without indentations." [He then mi- 
nutely describes the plumage.] " I am unacquainted with the colours 
of the primitive female of this rare species, the Governor of Ceylon 
to whom I am indebted for information respecting this wild Cock, 
having sent me only a very old male, and a second individual, male 
also, at the stage when the comb and wattles begin to show them^ 
selves : an adult male is deposited in the cabinet of Mr. Raye de 
Breukelerwaert, at Amsterdam. These three individuals have the 
same distinctive characters, and the colour of their plumage abso- 
lutely correspond. The different domestic races of this species are 
distinguished by different coloured plumage ; most of the Cocks have 
indented combs like those of our village Cocks ; others have also the 
double comb. I have not yet met with one having a smooth comb, 
and without indentations ; this last race, if it exist, would be that 
which retains most of the source, or first type. It is scarcely pos- 
sible to furnish particulars of the origin of the domesticity of the 
Kumpless Cocks ; the date of it, nevertheless, ought to be more re- 
cent than that of the other species which have produced the village 
Cocks ; but inquiries on this subject cannot be established by proofs : 
they lose themselves in the night of time." 



THE RUMPLESS FOWL. 801 

stra per defectum.) It is curious that another island under 
the British rule should furnish a quadruped similarly defective. 
Manx Cats are well known for the peculiarity of having no 
tail. They are still to be met with now and then ; hut the 
native race, or species of Pigs, which were wild in the moun- 
tains a hundred years ago, appear now to be quite extermi- 
nated from the Isle of Man. Insular tribes of animals have 
but little chance of suvivorship, as human population in- 
creases. In New Zealand, the wingless bird — another de- 
fective monster — appears to be now a fast-vanishing apparition 
from the face of the earth. 

I have found no mention of the Rumpless Fowl in classical 
authors, but Aldrovandi was aware of its existence : — 

" The Cock which they call the Persian, and which we have 
here figured, differs from our own sorts mainly in having no 
tail ; in other respects, it is very like them. The Cock, how- 
ever, has a sort of tail. It was all black, sprinkled with yel- 
low lines : the first quill-feathers were white, the rest black ] 
the feet ashy : the Hen was like our own in respect to shape 
and carriage ; of an extremely different colour to the male, 
whence I attach little weight to diversity of colour, in these as 
in them. She was all over of a ferrugineous colour, except the 
three quill-feathers, which were black. Her comb, if you com- 
pare it with the comb of the male, was much smaller/' 

Aldrovandi's Rumpless Cock is represented with a large 
double comb, that is produced backwards, " veluti caudam^^ 
like a tail. I am without information as to their laying and 
sitting qualities. They are not small, being at least of the 
average size of Fowls. 

" This species,^' says Temminck, " has given rise to many 
exaggerated tales. Before the domestic (race of the Rumpless 
Fowl) was well known, and dispersed through the different 
countries of Europe, the vulgar conceived ridiculous ideas, 
brought forth by superstition, on the subject of these birds. 



302 THE SILKY AND THE NEGRO FOWL. 

" The ' Philosophical Transactions of the year 1693/ inform 
us that the Cocks of Virginia have no rumps ; the inhabitants 
of this colony affirm that when Cocks are transported there 
they soon lose their rump ; but this opinion is false, and has 
not been confirmed by modern travellers. Bufi"onj who seems 
to put faith in this improbable story, appears to conclude from 
it, that this species originated in Virginia j ' the more so/ 
says this naturalist, ^ as the ancients were unacquainted with 
them, and naturalists did not begin to mention them till after 
the discovery of America.' " 

Such are the marvellous efi'ects of climate ! Such are the 
foundations for doctrines which common sense cannot help be- 
lieving dangerous in tendency, as well as false in principle ! 
That such nonsense should influence the opinion of learned 
philosophers ! — nonsense deserving only to be answered by 
other nonsense. If this wasting away of the indescribable 
part of the bodily frame be general in Virginia ; if the inhabit- 
ants of that State really are subject to the loss — shall we dare 
say it ? — of their rumps, — what a profitable speculation it 
would be to send out to them a few ship-loads of bustles, to 
try if they also will disappear by the influence of the climate ! 



THE SILKY AND THE NEGRO FOWLS. 

Anomalies have been called ^^ finger-posts, that point the 
way to unsuspected truths." This strange genus — for their 
claims to that title deserve to be investigated — ought to excite 
the curiosity of naturalists, though they have not much me- 
rited the favour of Poultry-keepers. Even if it be found that 
they produce prolific ofi"spring when cooped with our common 
Poultry, that circumstance cannot be allowed to weigh for 
much in our present most imperfect knowledge of the family. 



THE SILKY AND THE NEGRO FOWL. 303 

A great deal of confusion and uncertainty is current respecting 
the Silky and the Negro Fowls ', and it cannot be expected 
that a country clergyman^ who has but limited means of in- 
vestigation at command, should be able, in a first endeavour, 
to throw much light on a most intricate and difficult subject, 
or to afford much final information on a class of creatures which 
have a more appropriate place in the museum than in the 
Poultry-yard. But they may safely be pronounced to be 
worthless, as stock : they are kept in existence in this country 
by importation from India, rather than by breeding. They 
may be had in London for about 10s. each ;• for less, perhaps, 
occasionally ; and a collection of them, and a comparison of 
their differences, is desirable for scientific purposes. It may be 
presumed that in India several kinds are to be found, with 
which we are totally unacquainted. We have, however, quite 
enough to stimulate inquiry. There are, first, a Silky Fowl, 
with white plumage and skin, red comb, and bones coloured 
the same as in other Fowls ; called, sometimes, the Nankin 
Silky Fowl. Secondly, another Silky Fowl with white plum- 
age, but with dark skin and comb, and dark bone, called 
also the Black-boned Fowl. Such as these are doubtless those 
in the possession of the Queen. ^^I saw a lot of ugly, under- 
sized white Fowls, with black combs and indescribable plumage, 
that had been sent to her Majesty from the East, which I sup- 
pose are the breed to which you refer. See the article 
* Pheasant,' in the ' Penny Cyclopaedia.' My brother tells me 
that he saw some very small White Silky Fowls which had 
been brought from Calcutta. If I remember aright, her Ma- 
jesty's were as small as any Bantams." — J. S. W. Thirdly, 
there is another kind of Silky Fowls, with plumage almost 
black, with black comb and skin, and with bones that are black, 
or of a dark colour : and, fourthly, I am led to believe that 
there exists, what would be the true Negro Fowl, a bird with 



304 THE SILKY AND THE NEGRO FOWL. 

black comb, skin and bones, and with plumage wbich is black, 
but not silky. 

Instances of creatures having bones naturally/ discoloured, are, 
I think, rare. The only other one I can call to mind, is that 
of the G-ar-fish, which is not unfrequent in the London markets, 
a most curious piece of organization, with a long beak like a 
Snipe, a long body like an Eel, but flattened like a riband, 
and grass-green bones. "The Wool-bearing Hen I take 
to be altogether fabulous, and its figure in Aldrov. lib xiv. 
cap. 14, taken out of a certain map, fictitious. Perchance 
it was no other than the frizzled or Friesland Hen, which Odo- 
ricus de Foro JuUi and Sir John Mandevil call the Wool- 
bearing Hen. The birds which M. Paulus Venetus makes 
mention of in these words, ^ In the city Quelinfu, in the king- 
dom q/*Mangi, are found Hens, which, instead of feathers have 
hairs like Cats, of a black colour, and lay very good Eggs,' 
seem to be Cassowaries.'^ — Willughhy, p. 156. A daring 
piece of skepticism for those times ! However, the Frizzled 
and the Silky Fowls are quite distinct. Aldrovandi's own 
words are — " The likeness of this Wool-bearing Hen is taken 
out of a certain cosmographic map. There is a very great 
city, towards the East, in which the largest Cocks are produced. 
The Hens are white as snow, and, according to the Odoricus 
of Forum Julii, (three different towns rejoice in that name,) 
are covered, not with feathers, but with wool, like sheep. Also 
Marco Polo, the Venetian, writes, that in the city Quelinfu, in 
the kingdom Mangi by name. Hens are found that, in the 
place of feathers have hairs like cats, are of a black colour, 
and lay most excellent Eggs.'^ Aldrovandi's figure is black, 
with large wattles, and elaborately jagged comb. The bird 
is covered with curly locks. But an inspection of these old 
wood-cuts, especially in botanical works, suggests the idea, that 
many of them were merely symbolical, intended rather to give 



THE FRIZZLED^ OR FRIESLAND FOWL. 305 

the hieroglyphic of the thing meant, than a.n actual verisimi- 
lar representation of it. 

Temminck states positively that the Negro Fowl exists in 
a wild state in India; and that both it and the Silky Fowls 
differ anatomically from the ordinary Domestic Fowls. Buffon 
wonders what it can be which the Negro Fowls find to eat in 
their native home, so to change the colour, not merely of their 
comb and skin, but of their periosteum also. 

Analogous to the Silky Fowl is the Lace Pigeon, so called 
on account of the peculiarity of its feathers, the fibres or web 
of which appear disunited from each other throughout their 
whole plumage. 



THE FRIZZLED, OR FRIESLAND FOWL. 

It is difficult to say whether this be an aboriginal variety, 
or merely a peculiar instance of the morphology of feathers ; 
the circumstance that there are also Frizzled Bantams would 
seem to indicate the latter case to be the fact. School-boys 
used to account for the up-curled feathers of the Frizzled Fowl, 
by supposing that they had come the wrong way out of the shell. 
The}* are to be met with of various colours, but are disliked 
and shunned, and crossly treated by other Poultry. Old- 
fashioned people sometimes call them French Hens. The 
reversion of the feathers, rendering them of little use||s clothing 
to the birds, makes this variety to be peculiarly susceptible 
of cold and wet. They have thus the demerit of being tender 
as well as ugly. In good specimens, every feather looks as if 
it had been curled the wrong way with a pair of hot curling- 
irons. The stock is retained in existence in this country more 
by importation than by rearing. The small Frizzled Bantams 
at the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, are found to be 
excellent sitters and nurses. Aldrovandi has an unmistakeable 



806 THE TRIZZLED, OR FRIESLAND FOWL; 

figure of the Frizzled Cock, and gives the following account 
ofit:— 

"Pompilius Tagliaferrus, of Parma, not the lowest among 
distinguished physicians, wrote to me respecting this Cock, in 
these words: ^I send thee the effigy of a monstrous Cock, 
although the painter has not satisfied me in its delineation. 
But I wish you to know that two things particularly worthy 
of admiration are to be found in this Cock, which are scarcely 
ever seen in our own Cocks and Hens. The first and principal 
is, that the feathers of the wings are situated in a contrary 
manner to what they are in others, for the flat part of them, 
which, by the prescript of nature, in others bends inwards, in 
this is seen outwards, so that the whole wing appears entirely 
reversed. I think another thing worthy of notice, namely, 
that the small feathers of the neck are erected towards the 
head, like curls, whither also the whole tail appears to be 
bent.' So far he. But what he records of this Cock, neither 
its portrait sent to me nor our figure sufficiently express; 
which his words show to have happened through the unskil- 
fulness of the painter." Aldrovandi seems to doubt the fact. 
His bird is drawn with a large, deep-cleft comb. 

Temminck makes a species of this bird. He says, it is a 
native of Asia, and is found in a domestic state throughout 
Java, Sumatra, and all the Philippine Islands, where it 
succeeds well; but he is uncertain in what country it is still 
found wil% 

It is curious that there should be a Frizzled Pigeon, called 
by Fanciers the Frill-back. 



THE CUCKOO FOWL. 807 



THE CUCKOO FOWL. 



We here give, by the name by which it is usually designated 
in the Norfolk farm-yards, a variety which there is good reason 
to believe to be something old and distinct, though they are 
generally looked upon as mere Barn-door Fowls; i. e. the 
mere accidental result of promiscuous crossing. But there 
are several forms among the Barn-door Fowls, so called, that 
are seen to be repeated generation after generation, the 
counterparts of which are to be met with scattered here and 
there over the country. So constant a repetition of corre- 
sponding features would seem to declare, that there are several 
unnoticed and undistinguished varieties of Fowl, which deserve 
to be regarded and treated as we do other distinct sorts. The 
objection to the adoption of this view and mode of practice is, 
that it would inconveniently multiply the number of species, 
and give additional trouble to naturalists and poultry fanciers. 
But the multiplicity of Nature's works always has been infinite, 
in reference to man's power of understanding them. The 
only wonder, if we reflect, is, that he has had the courage to 
grapple with them at all. At any rate, the investigation of a 
few families of Cocks and Hens, is a less laborious work than 
the arrangement of a ^^Systema Naturae," or the writing of a 
'^ Kosmos." The subject is certainly deserving of considera- 
tion, and may be the means of affording important service to 
natural history. Dr. Bechstein seems to have been not far 
from suspecting that several distinct varieties might be detected 
among the ordinary Fowls of the farm-yard. It might answer 
the purpose of the dealer to rear a pure stock of some of the 
handsomest and most useful of these, and send them forth 
with appropriate names, determined by competent persons, 
fixing the appellation of the variety. 



308 THE CUCKOO FOWL. 

The Cuckoo Fowl, it may be supposed, was so called from 
its barred plumage, resembling tbe breast of the Cuckoo. The 
prevailing colour is a slaty blue, undulated, and softly shaded 
with white all over the body, forming bands of various width. 
The comb is very small ; irides, bright orange ; feet and legs, 
light flesh-colour. The Hens are of a good size; the Cocks 
are large, approaching the heaviest breeds in weight. The 
Chickens, at two or three months old, exhibit the barred 
plumage even more perfectly than the full-grown birds. The 
Eggs average about two ounces each, are white, and of porce- 
lain smoothness. The newly-hatched Chicks are gray, much 
resembling those of the Silver Polands, except in the colour 
of the feet and legs. This breed supplies an unfailing troop 
of good layers, good sitters, good mothers, and good feeders, 
and is well worth promotion in the Poultry-yard. 

In any closer grouping of the breeds of Poultry, the Cuckoo 
Fowl might perhaps be safely referred to the Surrey Fowl, 
and so to the Dorkings. Some of the gray-barred Dorkings 
are scarcely to be distinguished from them, except by the fifth 
toe. Still there is something very permanent and remarkable 
in the peculiar style of plumage, that ought not to be lost sight 
of. It is with difficulty got rid of by crossing. Half-bred 
Spanish and Dorking Fowls have quite retained the barred and 
shaded feathers of the one parent, displaying the comb, ear- 
lobe, and stature of the other. And this curious and decided 
plumage is quite confined to one or two breeds, never appear- 
ing, that I am aware, in others, such as the Game, the Malays, 
and Hamburghs ; a circumstance which makes us believe it 
to indicate an ancient descent from some peculiar and original 
parentage. 



THE BLUE DUN FOWL. 309 



THE BLUE DUN FOWL. 



For an acquaintance with^ and a description of this very 
neat and pleasing variety, I am entirely indebted to the kind- 
ness of a valued correspondent, as also for good living speci- 
mens of the birds. ^^The Blue Dun Fowls were first procured 
by us from Dorsetshire, but I know not from what part. They 
are under the average size, and rather slenderly made, of a 
soft and pleasing bluish dun-colour, the neck being darker, 
with high single combs, deeply serrated. The Cock is of the 
same colour as the Hen, but has in addition some handsome 
dark stripes in the long feathers of the tail, and sometimes a 
few golden, or even scarlet marks, on the wings, which, by 
their contrast, give the bird a very exotic look. The Blue 
Duns are exceedingly familiar, impudent, and pugnacious ; 
indeed, I strongly suspect this sort to be a variety of, or nearly 
related to the Grame Fowl, having exactly that shape, and 
also disposition. 

"I have fortunately hit upon a lovely little Hen for you, 
but the Cock I must apologize for. His colour is unimpeach- 
able, but you must imagine that little crest to be absent, and 
the comb to be single, instead of double. His brother, who 
fully intended waiting on you in Norfolk, and was exceedingly 
perfect, was killed by a wire-guard being blown down on him. 
I would send my grown Cock, but I believe it would cause a 
mutiny among the labourers, who sometimes give him and his 
wife the greater part of their dinner; he being impudent 
enough to take it either from their hands or mouths ! They 
have named him Fred. It is the greatest fun to see a Cock 
of this sort keeping up a playful fight with another, rather his 
superior, spinning and waltzing about him like a French 
dancing-master. Without more convincing proof, I do not 



SIO THE BLUE DUN FOWL. 

quite approve of their being called Blue Bantams, as, although 
the breed is certainly small, it is still respectable in size, and 
the Eggs are very fair in that respect. 

" The Hens are good layers, wanting to sit after laying a 
moderate number of Eggs, and proving attentive and careful 
rearers of their own Chickens, but rather savage to those of 
other Hens. The Eggs are small and short, tapering slightly 
at one end, and perfectly white. The Chicks, on just coming 
from the Egg, sometimes have a ridiculous resemblance to the 
gray and yellow catkin of the willow, being of a soft bluish 
gray, mixed with a little yellow here and there. 

" There is one peculiarity in this breed, which is, that if 
the variety is kept perfectly unmixed with any other sort, you 
will seldom obtain more than half the number of the proper 
Blue Duns, the rest being either black or white. (This would 
•mate us strongly suspect that, if their history were known, 
they are themselves but a cross between two distinct varieties 
or species of Fowls, and that they must themselves eventually 
disappear, by assimilation to the type of one or other progeni- 
tor.) The white Chickens, however, are afterwards sprinkled 
with dun feathers. Perhaps the original sort may have been 
either black or white, as we know animals will, after many 
cross-breedings, ' cry back,' as it is called in some counties, to 
the origin whence they arose. 

"The Blue Duns are nearly equal to game of any sort for 
eating. The hackles of the Cock are always in great request 
for making artificial flies for fishing.^' — IT. H. 

A Cockerel of this breed had the comb large, single, deeply 
serrated; bill, dark horn-colour, white at the points of both 
mandibles; ear-lobe, whitish; wattles, large and pendent; 
iris, orange-brown ; neck hackle, yellowish gray ; back hackle, 
the same, intermixed with black ; legs, light lead-colour ; live 
weight, 3 lb. 11 oz. ; general tint, bluish dun ; claws, grayish 
white. 



"THE BLUE DUN FOWL. 311 

'The theory that the colour of the Blue D Lin results from a 
combination of white and black (i. e. very dark purple or 
state-colour) in the progenitors, as betrayed by the habitual 
"crying back" of the breed, is confirmed by the fact of the 
speckled black and white or gray and white Spanish pro- 
ducing whole-coloured slaty-gray birds, though of a darker 
hue than the Blue Duns, in which the permanency of the 
tint appears to be equally uncertain. It will be worth while 
to keep some of the aberrant Chickens of the Blue Duns, and 
record what is the result of their propagation inter se. 

I am now much inclined to transfer these birds to the G-ame 
FowlS) and altogether abolish the "Blue Duns'' as a distinct 
race, but await the consent of able amateurs in Poultry, There 
are Blue Dun families belonging to several breeds : we have 
them in the Spanish, the Polish, the Game, and the Ham- 
burghs, and it would be more correct to refer each Blue Dun 
to its own proper ancestry. It is a nice question, which there 
is not space to discuss here, how far colour is typical of certain 
species or sub-species ; in some parts of a bird it never varies 
at all, but in the general plumage it varies considerably, under 
limitations ; thus, I never saw or heard of a brown or golden 
Spanish Fowl. Meanwhile, descriptions of one or two other 
Blue Duns will aid in attaining a clearer view. The first, a 
decided G^ame Fowl, cannot difi"er much from ours. "You 
say that your Blue Duns are perhaps the result of accidental 
crossing, whereas they have been known, both in Yorkshire 
and Lancanshire, for many years, as a pure, unmixed, and 
distinct variety. They are also the most courageous and 
impetuous of the Game Fowls, seldom having been known to 
lose their first battle. Their plumage is, I think, the most 
beautiful of any of their species. The breast is of a rich dark 
slate-colour, the feathers having a broad margin of a darker 
hue, the saddle of a deep blood-colour, and the hackles of the 
neck and tail of a dark red, gradually shading to a beautiful 



312 THE LARK-CRESTED FpWL. 

golden tint ; the tail black and flowing, with a brilliant green 
shade. The Cock is thus a most gorgeous looking fellow, of 
a strong muscular frame, without offal; his legs are blue. 
The Hen is marked in the same manner, all over the back and 
body, with the hackle of the same golden colour. The Chicks, 
when first hatched, are of a reddish brown, but with no par- 
ticular distinctive markings : this I have only from hearsay, 
from the man who keeps them for us, and who has been a 
breeder of the variety for many years." — F. S. B. 

There is also a Blue Dun, which resembles the Hamburghs 
in every particular except in colour, and a disposition to sit, 
which makes them more useful to the farmer, who must, if he 
keep but one variety, have Fowls which will rear their own 
young, which none of the Hamburghs will do. Mr. Bissell 
says — ^^ These are very fine noble-looking birds, and as useful 
as they are beautiful ; and they have, to my knowledge, per- 
manently bred without at all ' crying back' or running out, for 
some years." 



THE LARK-CRESTED FOWL. 

Here, again, as with the Cuckoo Fowl, is a breed that has 
been treated with undeserved disregard. Many London dealers 
might call them Polanders, and indeed many ill-bred Polands 
have crests inferior to some of these in size. But the shape 
of the crest, as well as the proportions of the bird, are different. 
Aldrovandi perceived the distinction. He calls the one " Our 
farm-yard Hen, known to everybody, entirely white, and 
crested like a Lark :" the other is his Paduan Fowl. The 
first, of whatever colour, is of a peculiar taper-form, inclining 
forwards, as Aldrovandi' s old-fashioned wood-cut well repre- 
sents, with a moderate, depressed, backward-directed crest, and 



THii LARK-CRESTED T W L. 313 

deficient in the neatness of the legs and feet so conspicuous in 
the Polands ; the latter are of more upright carriage and more 
squarely built frame. Set the two side bj side, and their dis- 
crepancy will be apparent. I would distinguish the Lark- 
crested from the Polish Fowls, by the former having an occipi- 
tal crest, the latter more of a frontal one. Mr. Selby's volume 
on Pigeons, in the Naturalist's Library, gives a figure and de- 
scription of the Columha diloplia, or Double-crested Pigeon, 
which has both these forms of top-knots united on its head. 

Lark-crested Fowls are of various colours; pure snow-white, 
brown with yellow hackle, and black. How far these sorts 
required to be subdivided, has not yet been investigated. The 
first of these are perhaps of a more brilliant white than is seen in 
any other domesticated gallinaceous bird. The colour is much 
more dazzling than that of the White Guinea Fowl, or the 
White Pea Fowl. This white variety is in great esteem with 
many farmers' wives, who will keep it, to the entire ex- 
clusion of any sort. They certainly have a remarkably neat 
and lively appearance when rambling about a homestead. 
They look very clean and attractive when dressed for market : 
an old bird, cleverly trussed, will be apparently as delicate and 
transparant in the skin and flesh as an ordinary chicken. 
The feathers are also more saleable than those from darker 
coloured Fowls. My own experience leads to the suspicion 
that if they are a little more tender than other kinds raised 
near the barn-door, it is only a little ; and I must think them 
to be in every way pi-eferable to the White Dorkings. In the 
Cocks a single upright comb sometimes almost entirely takes 
the place of the crest. The Hens, too, vary in their degree of 
crestedness, some not having above half a dozen of feathers 
in their head-dress. If they were not of average merit as to 
their laying and sitting qualifications, they would not retain 
the favour they do with the thrifty housewives by whom they 
are chiefly cultivated. 

27 



314 !fHE LARK-CRESTED FOWL. 

These neglected varieties are well known to the itinerant 
Fowl-dealers, who traverse the country in search of Chickens 
to be fatted for market. From them they may easily be ob^ 
tained at a reasonable price. The best way would be to order 
a random lot of a score or two, select the best for stock, and 
consume those which remain. These people value Fowls en- 
tirely according to their age, size, and weight. Almost thei 
only exception is, that they will now and then give a trifle 
more for a handsome, showy, adult Cock Bird, particularly if 
he exhibit marks of Game blood. But the most amusing 
speculation is to purchase Eggs in country towns, from the 
wives of those small farmers who bring their own produce to 
market, and take the chance of whatever may be hatched from 
them. By keeping ten or a dozen sitting Hens, and obtaining 
Eggs from different localities, a sufficient number of various 
Chickens may be obtained in one season to afford the breeder 
a good opportunity of exercising his discriminating judgment. 
A very little experience will soon point out which are mere 
half-breds of well-known sorts, and which show symptoms of 
belonging to a distinct race; and that long before they have 
attained their full growth — sometimes as soon as they have 
issued from the shell. In a harmless lottery like this, some 
prizes are sure to turn up; the only blanks being addled Eggs. 




A^'Vv;.^'\ 



315 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE SMOOTH-LEGGED BANTAM. 

The small White, and also the Coloured Bantams, whose legg 
are heavily feathered, are sufficiently well known to render a 
particular description unnecessary. Bantam-fanciers generally, 
with Sir John Sebright at their head, prefer those which have 
clean bright legs, without any vestige of feathers. 

The rule with fanciers is, that a thorough-bred Cock should 
have a rose comb; a well-feathered tail, without the sickle 
feathers, however; full hackles, a proud lively carriage, and 
ought not to exceed a pound in weight. The nankeen- 
coloured, and the black are the general favourites. 

They are said to have been imported, by the late Sir John 
Sebright, from India. For perfection of model, and beauty 
of plumage, nothing can exceed them. The pair portrayed 
on the opposite page are in the possession of Mr. Wistar, of 
Germantown, and were procured for him by a friend in Eng- 
land. They are, as may be seen in the portraits, beautifully 
marked; the ground of the feathers being a rich orange-brown 
or cream-colour, and each feather pencilled round the edge 
with black, with the greatest uniformity. They are sometimes 
called the " Sebright Jungle Fowl." They are bred in and about 
London, also in various part of England and Ireland, with the 



316 THE SMOOTH- LEGGED BANTAM. 

most scrupulous care. In London there are stated times for 
the exhibition and sale of these birds ; and Mr. Nolan tells us, 
that " the regulations of the Society of London Amateurs, re- 
quire that each exhibitor shall offer his birds for sale, after the 
exhibition, and may bid himself, and put on a prohibitory 
amount of purchase-money. It is on record that Sir John 
bid up one of his diminutive Hens to £29, and bought her in 
at that price. And it is recorded in the Illustrated London 
,NewSj of 20th February, 1847, that so late as that date, two 
Hens and a Cock, of these beautiful emblems of pride and 
consequence, sold for £50 and Is., being a shilling more than 
the amount put on them by their owner. At the sale of the 
late lamented baronet, the golden grounded birds averaged 
£5 a brace, and the silver spangled £8 a brace -, 'although 
they are becoming comparatively abundant, they still keep up 
a high price in the London market, if well marked. There 
has been lately offered here, some fine specimens, from Sir 
John's own stock, at a very low figure. I do not think any 
thing could exceed their perfection of feather. A lady near 
Shrewsbury has procured some fine specimens, of both gold 
and silver spangled, from this neighbourhood ', if she still re- 
tain them, I think she may challenge England ; as far as I 
can judge, they are quite superior to those that took the 
prize in London. Some ladies in the Queen's County, have 
procured fine specimens from the late baronet's stock; I hove 
no doubt, but under their fostering care, the breed will be 
kept up with as much ardour as during the lifetime of the 
great poultry-patron Sir John, and that we will be breeding 
them, as in the baronet's lifetime, ' to a single feather,' and 
retain their character of the ^ prettiest of domestic birds.' The 
male birds should stand about twelve inches high ; the stand- 
ard weight being twenty-two ounces ; the plumage as above 
described, (the rose-comb is preferred) ; the wattles are mode- 
rately long ; face and throat bare ; no top-knot or ruff on neck; 



THE SMOOTH-LEGGED BANTAM. 317 

as free as possible from hackle ; tail without the plume, or 
what is called hen-tailed ; perfectly clean-legged." 

Our author, Mr. Dixon, says of Bantams: — We are now 
timorously approaching the most treasured pets of the Fancy. 
We have advanced with a tolerably steady footstep through the 
flocks of well-sized creatures that crowded beside our path — 
the Turkeys, the Peacocks, the G-eese, and the Swans, — and 
should not have feared to encounter even an Emeu or a Cereop- 
sis, had chance planted one in the way ; but a sudden fear and 
trembling creeps over us as we draw near to these mysterious 
elves and pigmies of the feathered world. Grulliver got on 
very well in Brobdingnag, so long as he did not attempt 
any leap beyond his strength ; but the minute Lilliputians 
teased him sadly by their numbers, their activity, and the un- 
seen and unsuspected places from whence they issued. But 
twenty or thirty years back. Bantams would have supplied a 
more formidable muster-roll than they now do. 

Bantam is the name of a town and kingdom in the island 
of Java, famous for its trade in pepper, of which the Dutch 
despoiled us, and for its unrelenting punishment of thieves. 
'^The Laws of this country'' (Achin, the north-western part 
of Sumatra, famous for the juicy and refreshing fruit called 
the Pumple-nose, and the seductive and intoxicating herb 
Ganga or Bang,') " are very strict, and offenders are punished 
with great severity. Neither are there any delays of justice 
here ; for as soon as the Offender is taken, he is immediately 
brought before the Magistrate, who presently hears the matter, 
and according as he finds it, so he either acquits, or orders 
punishment to be inflicted on the Party immediately. Small 
Offenders are only whipt on the back, which sort of punishment 
they call Chauhuck. A Thief, for his first offence, has his 
right hand chopt off at the Wrist : for the second offence off 
goes the other ; and sometimes, instead of one of their hands, 
one or both of their feet are cut off; and sometimes (though 

27* 



318 THE SMOOTH-LEGGED BANTAM. 

very rarely) both hands and feet. If, after the loss of one or 
both hands and feet, they still prove incorrigible, (for they are 
many of them such very Rogues and so arch that they will 
steal with their Toes,) then they are banished to Pulo Way, 
during their lives. 

" On P%do Way there are none but this sort of Cattle : and 
though they all of them want one or both hands, yet they so 
order matters, that they can row very well, and do many 
things to admiration, whereby they are able to get a liveli- 
hood ; for if they have no hands, they will get somebody or 
other to fasten Ropes or Withes about their oars, so as to 
leave Loops wherein they may put the stumps of their Arms ; 
and therewith they will pull an oar lustily. They that have 
one hand can do well enough ; and of these yoiJ shall see a 
a great many, even in the City. 

" Neither is this sort of punishment peculiar to the AcMnese 
Government, but, probably, used by the other Princes of this 
Island, and on the Island of Java also, especially at Bantam. 
They formerly, when the King of Bantam was in his pro- 
sperity, deprived men of the right hand for a Theft, and may 
still, for aught I know. I knew a Dttfc/i-man so served : he 
was a Seaman, belonging to one of the King of Bantam's 
Ships." — Bampier's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 138. 

The same king (an. 1688) expected to receive from his sub- 
jects a very unusual mark of respect. " The Queen of Achin, 
as His said, is always an old Maid, chosen out of the Royal 
Family. What ceremonies are used at the chusing her I 
know not : Nor who are the Electors ] but I suppose they are 
the Oronheys (Great Lords). After she is chosen, she is in a 
manner confined to her Palace ; for by report, she seldom goes 
abroad, neither is she seen by any People of inferiour rank 
and quality ; but only by some of her Domesticks : except that 
once a Year she is drest all in white, and placed on an Ele- 
phant, and so rides to the river in state to wash herself : but 



THE SMOOTH-LEGGED BANTAM. 319 

whether any of the meaner sort of People may see her in that 
progress I know not ; for it is the custom of most Eastern 
Princes to screen themselves from the sight of their Subjects : 
Or if they sometimes go abroad for their pleasure, yet the 
People are then ordered either to turn their backs towards 
them while they pass by, as formerly at Bantam^ or to hold 
their hands before their eyes, as at Siam/' — Idem. p. 142. 

Our little friends the Bantams clearly show where they come 
from. Their passionate temper arises from the superabundance 
of pepper, their diminutive stature from the Javanese practice 
of foreshortening, their turgid comb from the succulent 
Pumple-noses, their overweening assumption and arrogance 
from the excitement of the herb Bang, and their propensity 
to make every rival turn tail, from the established court eti- 
quette of the old Bantam regime. 

The Yellow or Nankeen Bantams are about the most 
useful of their tribe, and not the least ornamental. The Hens 
are mainly tinted with a ginger-yellow, and have dull blue 
legs and feet, and small comb. There is a sub-variety, in 
which they are more brown, after the fashion of some G-ame 
Hens. The Gocks are decked in red, orange, and scarlet, 
mostly with the false speculum of iridescent wing-coverts, 
altogether of a flashy appearance ; and, indeed, when good 
specimens of their kind, are really beautiful little birds. Of 
late years they have much gone out of fashion, but deserve to 
be rescued from utter extermination. Their Eggs are large 
in proportion to the size of the layer, very rounded and full at 
both ends. They are excellent mothers, particularly for such 
delicate things as Partridges, Pheasants, and Guinea Fowls. 
One Hen, however, that we have, prevents this use being made 
of her powers, by invariably stealing a nest, though at other 
times she roosts in the fowl-house, with the rest of the Poul- 
try. She is usually very successful in her efforts, only we now 
9,nd then have Chickens at unseasonable times of the year. 



320 T HE SMOOTH-LE GGED BANTAM. 

For instance, one October she brought home seven little viva- 
cious balls of down, that certainly would not have had to en- 
counter the dead months of autumn and winter, had any 
other opinion than their mother's been consulted. 

The browner variety of this bird is sometimes called the 
Partridge Bantam : such are almost minatures of the Golden 
Hamburgh Fowls, both Pencilled and Spangled. There is 
the same double comb, pointed behind, the same blue legs and 
characteristics of form and plumage. But it would be wrong 
to conclude from these resemblances that it is a dwarfed 
Hamburgh Fowl; all we can say is, that this bird represents 
(as some naturalists express it) the Hamburghs among the 
Bantams; just as many birds of one Continent are found re- 
presented in another by corresponding, though quite distinct 
species of the same genus. 

The Sebright Bantam has very much thrown the pre- 
ceding into the shade. Their beauty is of a different class, 
but it is questionable whether their merits are greater. Here 
we have delicate pencilling in the shape of brilliant colouring. 
How and whence they first appeared in England is a mystery, 
and likely to remain so. Sir J. S. Sebright has the credit of 
having " originated" the breed, a reputation which we believe 
to be as well deserved as that he "■ originated'^ the creation of 
the feathered race in general. Those in his confidence were 
accustomed to report that he would travel, " or send," as far 
as two or three hundred miles to obtain a choice bird, which 
was .doubtless true ; but had they added many thousands of 
miles to the two or three hundred in the " sending'^ part of 
the story, they would, we believe, have been still nearer to the 
truth. That Sir John treated his birds, when procured, with 
jealous care and skilful nurture, will be readily granted. But 
while breeders continue to be so anxious, not merely to conceal 
their system of management, (in the earliest stages at least,) but 
even to mislead inquirers, those who cultivate natural history 



THE SMOOTH-LEGGED BANTAM. 321 

for its own sake will not be justified in arriving at hasty con- 
clusions from such information. 

We are at once struck with surprise at the impudence of 
the Sebright Bantams. Oh, the consequential little atom ! 
That such a contemptible minikin as that should have the as- 
surance to parade his insignificant person in the presence of 
great ladies, the female members of families of weight and 
substance, before the Misses, and still worse, the Mistresses 
Dorking, Cochin-China, and Malay, to presume to show marked 

attention, nay even, I declare ! to . Well, there is no 

knowing to what lengths impudence will go, so long as Ban- 
■ tarns survive extermination. 

Here is a little whipper-snapper! Pretty, certainly, and 
smart, but shamefully forward in his ways. His coat is of a 
rich brownish yellow ; almost every feather is edged with a 
border of a darker hue, approaching to black. His neat slim 
legs are of a light dull lead-colour ; his ample tail, from ivMch 
ihe sickle feathers are absent, is carried well over his back. His 
dependent wings nearly touch the ground. He is as upright 
as the stiffest drill-serjeant, or more so, for he appears now and 
then as if he would fall backwards, like a horse that over-rears 
himself. His full rose comb and deep depending wattles are 
plump and red : but their disproportionate size affords a most 
unfortunate hold for the beak of his adversary : but he cares 
not for that ; a little glory is worth a good deal of pecking and 
pinching, and it is not a slight punishment, nor a merely oc- 
casional infliction of it, that will make him give in. The great 
Hens, too, that look down upon him, and over him, think pro- 
per to do battle with him on a first introduction, though they 
afterwards find out that they might as well have received him 
in a more feminine style : 

" For Hess, like Women, born to be controlled, 
Stoop to the forward and the bold." 



322 THE SMOOTH-LEGGED BANTAM. 

The plumage of the Hens is similar to that of the Cocks. 
They are very good layers, most excellent sitters, assiduous 
and affectionate mothers, but most murderous step-mothers : 
that is, if you attempt to change, or add to, the number of the 
brood they have hatched themselves, they will welcome the 
little strangers by making raw-head and bloody-bones of them 
before you can return from fetching a pan of water to set before 
the coop. Their own Chickens are dark-brown when first 
hatched, with no particular marks about them whilst young. 
This is the variety figured by Moubray as the " Bantam or 
Pheasant Fowls." 

The Sebrights are divided into two varieties, — the Gold- 
laced, and the Silver-laced. The model Gold-laced Cock 
should be of a brilliant brownish yellow, with every feather, 
including his neck-feathers, narrowly laced or marginated with 
black all round them : his flight and tail-feathers of the same 
ground-colour as his body, but tipped, instead of laced, at the 
ends with black ; rose comb nicely pointed behind ; his legs 
dull light-blue ; his weight not to exceed twenty ounces. The 
Gold-laced Hen should correspond in all particulars, except 
weight, which must not exceed one pound. Silver-laced Ban- 
tams are precisely the same as Gold-laced, in all respects except 
the ground-colour, which should be as nearly white as possible, 
although they are generally inclined to be of an exceedingly 
light and delicate cream-colour. 

The Black Bantam is a most beautiful example of a great 
soul in a little body. It is the most pugnacious of its whole 
tribe. It will drive to a respectful distance great dunghill 
Cocks five times its weight. It is more jealous, irascible, and 
domineering, in proportion to its size, than the thorough-bred 
Game Cock himself. Its combativeness, too, is manifested 
at a very early period. Other Chickens will fight in sport, by 
the time they are half-grown, but these set to work in good 
earnest. One summer we bought a small brood, as soon as 



THE SMOOTH -LEGGED BANTAM. 323 

they could safely be removed from their mother : there were 
two Cockerels among them. They were little things, beauti- 
fully shaped, but ridiculously diminutive : fairy Chickens, some 
of our friends called them. They had not been with us long, 
before the liberal supply of barley began to excite them ; and 
the two little imps spent the greater part of their time in 
fighting, which only made us laugh, judging serious injury im- 
possible. But shortly, observing one unusually triumphant, 
(for it had always been a sort of drawn game between them,) 
and the other walking about in an odd and uncertain manner, 
though firm and fearless, I found that this latter had both its 
eyes closed from wounds received the day before. I carried 
it to my dressing-room, to relieve it by sponging, and set it on 
the stain-cloth, while I went to fetch some warm water. Still 
blind, it began crowing vivaciously. In a few minutes, its 
eyes were unsealed, and it was returned to the yard. But 
battle after battle was immediately fought, and we were 
obliged to eat one of the combatants to prevent the mutilation 
of both. We can consequently confirm the statements of those 
who praise the excellence of their flesh, particularly if it be 
accompanied by a little good bread-sauce. One, that I have 
seen, was in the constant habit of fighting, or rather sparring, 
with a little spaniel that belonged to the same owner. Though 
apparently attacking each other with great fury, they never 
seemed to be really in earnest. The arrival of strangers was 
generally the signal for the commencement of this sham-fight, 
which ended without bloodshed as soon as one or both of the 
combatants were out of breath. The spaniel was mostly the 
first to give in, when the victor evinced as much triumph as 
if he had vanquished a feathered foe. 

The Black Bantam, in his appearance, is a pleasing little 
fellow. He should have a full rose comb, clean and sinewy 
legs, glossy plumage with almost metallic lustre, of a different 
tint to the glancing green of the Spanish Fowl, arched and 



324 THE SMOOTH-LEGGED BANTAM. 

flowing tail; waggish impudent eye, self-satisfied air and gait. 
The Hen is of a duller jetty black, is less knowing in her man- 
ner, and I think in every way of inferior capacity. They 
have great credit for fulfilling their maternal duties well ; but 
I have found them less affectionate and careful than other 
Bantams. They are great stayers at home, prowling very little 
about; and therefore are desirable in many situations, such as 
suburban villas that are surrounded by captious neighbours. 
They will remain contented with the range of a moderate stable- 
yard, and the least bit of shrubbery ; and will do much good by 
the consumption of numerous insects. They are reputed good 
layers during winter ; but that will depend on the liberality 
with which they are fed. Cooks say that their Eggs, though 
small, are "very rich," which means, perhaps, that they con- 
tain a greater proportion of yolk than those of larger Fowls. 
Guinea Fowls' Eggs are prized for the same quality ; and any 
one may, at breakfast, observe how much less a proportion of 
white there is in them, than in those of the Turkey. Black 
Bantams' Eggs are smooth, tinged with buff, decidedly long- 
oval in most individuals, and with a zone of irregularity 
towards the smaller end in some. 

The new Chicks are covered with black down, which occa- 
sionally has a grayish cast under the belly : bill, eyes, feet, 
and legs, black. The female Chicks are not bigger than the 
queen of the black and yellow humble-bees, and their slender 
little legs appear fitter to belong to an insect than a Chicken. 
A desire to obtain the largest possible brood, induced me to 
hatch some under a great Dorking Hen, because she can cover 
so many Eggs ; but I only overreached myself. The big Hen 
was too heavy and clumsy to officiate as nurse to such fragile 
atoms. 

When brought up by their own mother, a spent cucumber- 
frame, covered with a net, is a good place to keep them the first 
month. The hottest and finest part of the season should be 



THE SMOOTH-LEGGED BANTAM. 325 

selected for them to pass their chickenhood in. When full 
grown and plumed, thej are not more tender than other Poul- 
try, though they are better suited for confinement in wards. 

Those who keep any other variety of Domestic Fowl, and 
are desirous of having plenty of Chickens, as well as Eggs, 
had better not permit a Black Bantam Cock to enter upon their 
premises. 

The White Bantam very much resembles the above, in 
every respect, except colour: the rose comb may, perhaps, in 
some specimens, be a little more exuberant. But they are not 
much to be coveted. The white of their plumage is not bril- 
liant, and is sure to be un-neat in the places where they are 
usually kept. Were they really guilty of the savage, object- 
less, and unnatural ferocity that is attributed to them, they 
would all deserve to have their necks wrung; but the tale 
wants confirmation. The ^'Illustrated News," for Feb. 20th 
1847, gives some particulars. 

The Feather-legged Bantams, are now as completely 
out of vogue, as they were formerly in esteem. We ought, 
perhaps, to have referred them to the anomalous Fowls. The 
chief interest attached to them, lies in their hinting to the na- 
turalist an affinity with the G-rouse tribe. There were several 
sorts of them in repute, but they are now nearly extinct in this 
country. See Albin, vol. III., p. 32. 

Creepers, so called from the shortness of their legs, and 
Jumpers, from their halting gait, are rather to be considered 
as accidental deformities collected from unhealthy families of 
Bantams, than as constituting any distinct variety. A suffi- 
cient proof of which is, that many of them are scarcely able 
to propagate their kind. "The Bantam I spoke of as living so 
long (seventeen years) was of the Feather-legged sort, spotted 
cream and white, laying merrily as ever to the last; but not 
having warmth sufficient to hatch, I always made her a present 
every year of a few little Chicks.''—^ K Some of these are. 



32& THE SMOOTH-LEGGED BANTAM. 

the very smallest of their genus, being not larger than Pigeons, 
and not so tall. They are now much out of fashion, and are 
rarely seen. They are well known, however, to the middle-age 
curiosity collectors. ^^But the Hens which Longolius calls 
pigmy, and renders into Grerman by ' Kriel,' (no such word is 
to be found in Bailey's Dictionary,) those, as I have just said, 
exist here and there ; they creep along the ground by limping, 
rather than walking ; we call them dwarfs." — Aldrovandi. 

Again : "Although we declared that we would not give another 
figure of common Hens, we have thought right, on account of 
their rarity, to exhibit one of the pigmy or dwarf sort, which 
we have said that many people unadvisedly consider as the 
Hadrian Hen, (of classical authors,) although it belongs to the 
same kind. But this Hen was all black, except' the larger 
feathers of the wings, which were whitish at the tips; she had 
likewise white spots all round about her neck, emulating the 
full moon ; and lastly, a round spot, of an ochrey colour, encir- 
cled her eyes. Her head was top-knotted. The wattles, and 
comb, which was very small, were of a rather intense red; the 
feet were bright yellow ; the claws small, exceedingly white.'' 

Aldrovandi gives a rich collection of three-footed, four-foot- 
ed, double-headed, and double-bodied Fowls, that occurred to 
him in the course of his laborious researches. 

The English edition of Buffon, informs us that Jumpers 
are the same as Cambogia Hens ; which, however, does not 
much add to our knowledge of the variety. 

Bantams, in general, are great devourers of some of the 
most destructive of our insects. The grub of the Cock-chafer 
and the Crane-fly are especial favourites with them. Their 
Chicks can hardly be reared so well, as by allowing them free 
access to minute insect dainties ; hence, the suitableness of a 
worn-out hotbed for them during the first month or six weeks. 
They are thus positively serviceable creatures to the farmers, as 
far as their limited range extends, and still more so to the 



THE SMOOTH -LEGGED BANTAM. 327 

gardener and the nurseryman. Mr. James Cuthill, of Camber- 
well, complains, in the Gardeners^ Chronicle, for December 1, 
1849, of the plague of woodlice, from which he, and others 
similarly engaged, had seriously suffered. ^^ It matters not," 
he says, ^^ whether it is the blossom of a Cucumber, or that of 
a Pine-apple that comes in their way, the fruit of a Melon or 
that of a Cucumber, I have lost many an ounce of Straw- 
berries through their depredations, and also, many an early 
Cucumber that would have brought me 3s. GcZ. in the market. 
The means I have employed for their destruction have been 
toads, which are effectual; but they are expensive, being 4s. 
a dozen. Many of them die, and except they are kept in 
quantity, the woodlice cannot be kept down. My object now, 
however, is to state that, from some trials I have made, I am 
convinced that woodlice may be killed by the use of Bantam 
Fowls. This plan may be put in operation by any one, even 
at this time of the year. I first had a hundred woodlice caught 
at a rubbish heap, and gave them to three Bantams ; they ate 
them up in something less than two minutes. I had these 
birds in attendance when turning over a rubbish heap, and not 
a woodlouse was allowed to escape, nor any insect, the Ban- 
tams devouring every thing. It will thus be seen that, if 
Bantams were encouraged and brought up in gardens, they 
would effect much good ; and I am of opinion that it will soon 
be found as necessary to keep Bantams to kill vermin, as it is 
to keep cats to keep down rats and mice. They will save 
various garden crops from injuries to which they would be 
otherwise exposed. They would scratch a little, to be sure, but 
so do cats ; and if the smaller kinds of Bantams are kept (those 
about the size of a Partridge) their scratching would do little 
harm." We give this statement as being the experience of a 
practical man. 



328 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DUNGHILL FOWL. 

This is sometimes called the Barn-door Fowl, and is cha- 
racterized by a thin, serrated, upright comb, and wattles pend- 
ing from each side of the lower mandible ', the tail rises in an 
arch, above the level of the rump ; the feathers of the neck and 
rump are long and line-like ; and the colour is finely variega- 
ted. The female's comb and wattles are smaller than those 
of the Cock ; is, herself, less in size, and her colours are more 
dull and sombre. In the best specimens of this variety, the 
legs should be white and smooth, like those of the Dorking, 
and their bodies round and plump ; being mongrels, they breed 
all colours, and are usually from 5 to 7 or 8 lbs. per pair. 



THE DOMINIQUE FOWL. 

This seems to be a tolerably distinct and permanent variety, 
about the size of the common Dunghill Fowl. Their combs 
are generally double, or rose, as it is sometimes called, and 
the wattles small. Their plumage presents all over a sort of 
greenish appearance, from a peculiar arrangement of white and 
blue feathers, which is the chief characteristic of the variety. 
They are hardy, excellent layers, and capital incubators. I 
would use them in preference to any other for hatching out the 
Eggs of the larger kinds. 



CHICKEN COOP. 829 

Other varieties of the Domestic Fowl there are, which it is 
not deemed necessary particularly to notice, as the Adrian 
Fowl, of which Aristotle says, they lay "everyday, and some- 
times two Eggs a day," the Sausevere Fowl, the Alexandria, 
the Carux, the Lombardy, the Media, the Rhodes, the English 
Dwarf and Raven, the Widow Hen, and the French large- 
footed Fowl. Those which we deem the best have been, we 
hope, accurately described, and their several qualities noticed; 
and it now only remains to say, that should this trea- 
tise ever reach a second edition, all Fowls with which we 
meanwhile become acquainted, possessing qualities worthy of 
notice, shall find a place in the work. 



COLONEL JAQUES'S CHICKEN COOP. 

The following extract of a letter, received from my friend, 
H. L. Devereux, Esq., of Boston, will show the fancier the 
success with which Chickens may be raised by an artificial 
mother, and also give a capital idea of the right sort of coop for 
young Chickens, whether to be raised with, or without their 
natural mother. He says : — 

I will now say a few words about Chichs and Chickens, 
which, if you think worthy, you are at liberty to insert in your 
forthcoming book. In all the Poultry books I have seen, there 
are very poor specimens of " chicken coops,'^ some with a bar- 
rel turned down, and the poor Hen tied by the leg ; others, 
with a coop shaped like a Major's cocked-hat; not one of them 
properly answering the purpose for which they are intended. 
The following drawing, which I send you, is from the original, 
first got up by that veteran breeder, Col. Samuel Jaques, of 
Ten Hills Farm. It is light, easy to be removed from one 
place to another every day, or as often as you please. It has 
a tight, and an open part, answering the double purpose of 
setting the Hen, and keeping her and the Chicks in, until they 



330 



CHICKEN COOP. 



are able to take care of themselves. The dimensions are for 
the tight part, 18 inches high on the back, rising to 22 front, 
and 18 inches each way on the bottom, with holes bored to 
admit air. The top has a lid to open, and a slide in front, to 
shut in the Hen. The front or open part may be 3 to 6 feet 
long, slatted with laths, with a hole cut through the bottom, 
for the Hen to scratch in. 



f m m 


1 










\ 


rrmTn nT^T 


Ul 




aI 











Again, I think Chickens can be raised as well without as 
with a Hen, even though you take the Chicks away in an hour 
or less after coming from the shell. Some of my handsomest 
Pullets were raised this past season without a Hen. In order 
to do this, you want a small coop, built in a '^ lean-to'' shape, 
3 to 5 feet long, high and wide in proportion, with a small door 
in front, and two squares of glass to admit light and sun, when 
cold and rainy. A piece of sheepskin, with the wool on, nailed 
to a board, would answer for them to run under and get warm. 
A coop of this description was shown at the Norfolk County Fair, 
in September last, by Mr. White, of Kandolph, invented and 
made by Mr. Edwin Allyn, of Boston. 



EARLY CHICKENS. 



The importance of early Chickens, and the method of rear- 
ing them, are plainly set forth in the following extract, which 
I make from a letter received from my friend, E. R. Cope, Esq. 
He says : — 



EARLY CHICKENS. _ 331 

There can Ibe no debate about the importance of hatcbing 
out Chickens early in the season, and it is equally important 
to the farmer, who raises for profit, and the ^' Fancier/' who 
desires to show some fine specimens each year. 

It is well known that ^' spring Chickens" always command 
a high price, and there is rarely a supply to be obtained. You 
have doubtless seen, in the month of June, pairs of birds ex- 
posed for sale, which, upon inquiry, you found to be ^ spring 
Chickens,' and the price seventy-Jive cents or upwards per pair. 
These Chicks were probably hatched out in the month of 
March or April ; and, of course, the owner had very little time 
to put flesh upon their bones, to say nothing of fat : still they 
were worth in the market, seventy-Jive cents. Now, suppose for 
a moment, the birth of these Chickens could be dated back to 
January, or even earlier, and brought to market in May or 
June, plump and fat as Reed Birds. Yf e would not have been 
compelled to inquire of our friend the farmer, what description 
of bird he had for sale, for their well-defined proportions 
would have, at the first glance, informed you to what species 
they belonged; and it is difficult to say what price you would 
have been asked to pay for them. 

But, asks our friend the farmer, how am I to raise Chickens 
in the winter months ? I will tell you, my friend ; and when 
you hear my answer, you will wonder you never thought of the 
same plan before. Place a small stove in your chicken-house, 
which can be heated with chips and wood, that otherwise might 
rot around your wood-pile ; and, by this means, you can keep 
up a temperature of 55 degrees, and raise Chickens just as 
well (better, in my opinion, and with much less loss, than 
when allowed to roam through the wet grass in spring and 
summer,) as later in the season. Then again, those Fowls* you 

* Good Shanghae or Cochin China fowls will begin to lay when 
about five and a half or six months old. This with great certainty, 
especially if the season be favourable. — Ed. 



332 EARLY CHICKENS. 

raise to fatten for winter sales, if hatched thus early, will com- 
mence laying about September, and produce you Eggs, at a 
time when they command the best price. 

A word to the Fancier : — If you adopt the system of early 
hatching, you will see the advantage of it in the extra size 
your Fowls attain the first season. You will not be subject to 
the vexation of seeing your young Chicks die off, one by one, 
when exposed to the hot sun of July, August, and September ; 
for they will have attained size and strength to bear it. You 
have probably had some Chickens out as early as April, and if so, 
have you not observed how much better they thrived than those 
clutches hatched out two or three months later ? And then, 
when these April Fowls were nine months old, have you 
weighed them ? and also, when your June Fowls reached the 
same age, did you weigh them, and compare the weights ? Lest 
you did not do so, I will tell you what would have been the 
result : the early Fowls would have weighed twenty -five per 
cent, heavier than the late ones ; and I am well satisfied, if the 
experiment had been tried with January and June Fowls, the 
result would have been thirty-three per cent, in favour of the 
former. 

Being fully satisfied of the importance of early hatching, I 
this year temporarily arranged a small room for the purpose, 
by placing in it an air-tight wood-stove, and a thermometer. 
Around the stove, and fast to the floor, I nailed strips of 
boards, four inches wide, and filled the enclosure thus formed 
with clean sand, for the Chickens to dust themselves in. By 
the time these arrangements were completed, (Nov. 2d, 1850,) 
I had a clutch of eight Shanghae Chicks nearly ready to take 
possession of the room. I would here remark, that I do not 
set my Hens in this warm room, but suffer them to hatch out 
their Eggs in the chicken-house, where I keep no fire. 

On January 16th, 1851, I had another clutch of Chicks, 
(Royal Cochin China's, eight in number,) ready to remove to 



EARLY CHICKENS. 333 

the warm room ; and within a week, I expect to have two more 
clutches hatched out. 

In my stove-room, I am careful to have the temperature 
kept regularly at fifty-five degrees ;* and, by means of my air- 
tight stove this is easily accomplished. 

My young stock thrives remarkably well, and, so far, I have 
lost but one Chick, and this was from an accident, and not dis- 
ease. Having access to the sand-bath before described, at all 
times, they kept themselves entirely free from vermin, and, 
in consequence, feather and generally improve faster than is 
usually the case. 

By giving this subject attention early in the season, say, 
commence setting Hens the early part of October, I am well 
persuaded any one may raise one to two hundred Chickens, 
that can readily be sold in the market for seventy-five cents to 
one dollar per pair, in the months of March, April, May, and 
June. To a farmer, there will be no additional cost : as before 
remarked, the waste pieces around his wood pile will be ample 
fuel ; and he will experience no difficulty in finding one of his 
men ready to undertake the superintendence of the room, (it is 
a nice, warm job for cold weather,) and also to attend to the 
little business he is expected to look after during the winter. 
The only additional cost to the Fancier, will be six dollars for 
one cord of hickory wood, which will be all he can consume in 
an air-tight stove during the winter, or, at all events, the above- 
named quantity of fuel will keep a room twelve feet square 
at a temperature of fifty-five degrees through the winter months. 
My only object in writing the above, is to endeavour to at- 
tract the attention of those who raise Fowls for profit or fancy 
to a branch of the subject heretofore much neglected, and if 
I succeed, even to a small extent, I will feel abundantly com- 
pensated. 

* I should prefer a temperature of not less than 60° nor more 
than 70°.— Ed. 



Bdi4 THE FORK- TAILED COCK. 

THE GALLUS BANKIVA, OR THE BANKIVA COCK, 

(^See Frontispiece.) 

Is nearly twice as large as our common Bantams. There is 
no down around his eyes or upon his throat; his comb is 
ample, irregular, and deeply serrated ; and the wattles are well 
let down from each side of the lower mandible. He has neck 
and rump hackles, long and slender, of a brilliant golden-orange 
colour ; the upper part of the back is bluish black ; the centre 
and lesser wing-coverts are of a rich chestnut colour; the tail 
is black, with rich green, and blue reflections ; and all the un- 
der parts are of a black or darkish hue. The specimen por- 
trayed, as well as the others forming the frontispiece, were 
presented to the Academy of Natural Science, in Philadelphia, 
by Thos. B. Wilson, Esq. Its habitat is the East Indies. 



THE GALLUS FURCATUS, OR THE FORK-TAILED COCK, 
( Vide Frontispiece.) 

Was first described by M. Temminck, in 1813. It is nearly 
two feet in length from beak to the extremity of the tail. 
The cheeks are bare, and the head differs from the Gallus 
Bankiva, in being furnished with a simple entire comb, and 
the under mandible and throat with a single large wattle, 
springing from the centre — all of a brilliant red colour. It 
differs from other species in the form of the neck-hackles par- 
ticularly. They are remarkably short and round, and of the 
hue given in the figure. The tail is usually carried more in a 
line with the body than in the Bankiva Fowl, and has a 
slightly forked form ; hence the name. The beak, legs, and 
feet are yellow. It is said to be abundant in Java, and is 
often seen upon the edges of woods and jungles, but, upon 
the slightest alarm, runs for cover. 



SONNE rat's wild COCK. 33^ 

GALLUS SONNERATII, OR SONNERAT'S WILD COCK, 

(Vide Frontispiece.) 

Has been dedicated by M. Temminck, to its discoverer. The 
first notice we find of it wbich can be trusted, is in the voyage 
to India, by that traveller. He was of the opinion that this 
Wild Cock was the stock from which our Domestic Fowls are 
derived. But this is scarcely possible ; for, not to speak of 
the difi"erence in size, the plumage is quite difibrent; indeed, 
none of the domestic races in India bear the least resemblance 
to it. It has hitherto, so far as I know, proved un tameable. 
A gentleman of my acquaintance, who was some ten years in 
the British service in India, informs me that on the return 
home, they had some two or three hundred " Wild Cocks," on 
board, all of which refused to eat, and died in a few weeks 
out. It is about two-thirds the size of our smallest Dunghill 
Fowls; in model is much more slender and graceful; the 
comb is single, large, slightly indented, and the wattles are 
double, and well developed. But the most singular part of 
this bird is its plumage. The stem, or shaft of the long 
hackle feathers is of a bright golden-orange hue, and, in the 
centre, and at the tip, dilate into a flat horny plate, similar to 
what is seen in the wings and tail of the Bohemian Wax- 
wing. Their appearance is both singular and beautiful. 
The centre of the back, the throat, breast, belly, and thighs 
are of a deep and rich gray, having the shafts and edges of a 
paler tint. The tail is of a rich and deep green ; and the beak, 
legs, and feet are yellow. About the females, there is nothing 
peculiar that may not be seen on inspection of the portraits, 
which are from nature, and singularly faithful. Indeed, mi- 
nute descriptions throughout the work has been rendered unne- 
cessary by the distinguished artist. 

The peculiar structure of the neck-hackles of the Glallus 



sonnerat's wild cock. 

Sonneratii will be seen by an inspection of the cuts on the 
opposite page. I procured feathers from the neck of the Gal- 
lus Bankiva, and also from that of the Gallus Furcatus, as 
well as from the "Wild Cock of Sonnerat, so that the reader 
may satisfy himself of two things : first, that the three birds 
in question are quite distinct varieties ; and that it is scarcely 
possible they are in any way the progenitors of our Domestic 
Poultry, as some have asserted. That the Wild Fowls do not 
mix or cross with each other, is obvious from the fact that 
they are all remarkably uniform in size, plumage, and general 
appearance. The gentleman above referred to, told me that 
the two or three hundred on shipboard were all a» much alike 
as any flock of wild birds he ever saw. 

The female of Sonnerat's Cock is about one-third less than 
he; she is rather a plain-looking bird, having scarcely any 
comb or wattles. On the back, she is of a dirty brown-colour ; 
and on the breast, the feathers are of a dull white, each laced 
with black or brown. The plumage has no trace of the flat 
horny structure which adorns the neck-hackles of the male ; nor 
is any part of his plumage so, except the neck ; at least, the 
rump-hackles* have it only, if at all, in a very slight degree. 
I could not, on inspection, perceive that they had any. 

The Bankiva Hen is scarcely so large as Sonnerat's, and is 
a still plainer looking bird ; her prevailing colour is brown, 
the breast is of a rather livelier hue than the back ; and she 
also has little or no show of comb or wattles. 

Doctor Latham says, that Sonnerat's Cock is by far the bold- 
est and strongest, in proportion to his size, of any other 3 and 
that the Cock-fighters of Hindostan anxiously seek him, as he 
rarely fails to secure a victory over the largest Game Cocks. 

The specimens from which the drawings were made, were 
purchased by Thomas B. Wilson, Esq., of Pennsylvania, at the 
sale of the Duke of Eivoli's collection, and by him presented 
to the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia. 

* On closer inspection I found the rump hackles so characterized also. 



SONNERAT^S WILD COCK. 



337 



The neck-hackle of the G-allus Bankiva is of usual length, 
but is distinguished by having the tip nearly square, and edged 
slightly with black, thus proving it, like the Grallus Sonneratii, 
to be a distinct variety. There is nothing peculiar in the rump 
hackle. The neck and rump-hackles of the Gallus Furcatus 
are quite peculiar, being very broad and short, giving to the 
plumage quite an imbricated appearance, unlike that of any 
other species. 




HfecJc-hacJcles of G. Neck-hackles of G. 
Bankiva. Sonneratii. 



338 



CHAPTER XX. 

CAPONIZING FOWLS. 

The following history and method of caponizing, I extract 
from Mr. Brown's Treatise on Domestic Poultry. He says : — 

The art of making Capons has been practised from the ear- 
liest antiquity, in Greece, India, and China, for the purpose 
of improving the flesh of birds for the table, in tenderness, 
juiciness, and flavour. But Capons, in point of fact, are 
getting out of date, and are taking rank with oxen roasted 
whole, and other barbarisms of the middle ages. They are 
now rarely to be found in the London markets ; and when 
procurable, are very expensive, but not unjustly so, when it is 
to be remembered that two or three Chickens may have been 
sacrificed, before ten Capons have been nursed into conva- 
lescence. That they may be had in considerable abundance, 
in China, the south of Europe, and, in a few instances, in our 
own country, is not to be denied; but wherever they may be 
found, they cannot be classed otherwise than in the list of un- 
called-for luxuries, of unnecessarily unnatural viands, such as 
diseased goose-liver pies, fish crimped alive, or even those 
frightful and portentous dishes recalled by Dr. Kitchener, in 
the "Cook's Oracle.'' One thing, however, may be harm- 
lessly resuscitated. As 

"the toad ugly and venomous, 

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head," 



CAPONIZING FOWLS. 



339 



SO the Capon, which, though ugly, is not half venomous 
enough, if we can be made to believe all we read, carries a 
valuable gem in the part that is usually antithetically opposed 
to the head. 




Extracting a Crystal from a Capon's Liver. 
From a very curious and ancient work on natural history, 
in my possession, entitled '^ Ortus Sanitatis," (the Grarden of 
Health,) printed and published at Ausburg, in 1485, by Joan. 
Cuba, a Dutch botanist, who travelled through Grreece and the 
East, I give above, a fac-simile of a wood engraving, repre- 
senting the act of extracting a precious stone from the liver of 
a Capon. "The Allectorius," says the author, "is a stone 
like a crystal, or limpid water. It is found in the liver of a 
Capon at the age of three years. It is never larger than a 



340 CAPONIZING FOWLS. 

bean. After this stone is formed in the Capon, he never 
drinks." The Ortus Sanitatis further informs us that ladies, 
who wear the jewel AUectorius, are sure to be pleasing in the 
ejes of their husbands. 

Aldrovandi tells us that in Capons, which were more the 
fashion in his day than they are now, the hackle, the tail- 
feathers, and the spurs grew to a much greater length than 
in Cocks. 

In England, the art of making Capons, it seems, is no new 
thing, as the business of which formerly devolved upon females; 
for old Leonard Mascall, in his minute directions for the ope- 
ration, uses the feminine gender throughout. 

MODE OF MAKING CAPONS AND POULARDES. 

If young Cocks are emasculated, so as to deprive them of 
their natural reproductive feelings, it has a wonderful effect on 
their condition, rendering them also more easy to fatten. 
They are never afterwards subject to the natural process of 
moulting,* and lose their previous strong shrill voice. They 
become dull and melancholy, are detested by the Hens, buffeted 
about by the other Cocks, and would soon fall victims to their 
enmity, were they not removed to perform the remaining busi- 
ness of their lives, " to eat, drink, sleep, and get fat," with all 
possible expedition. In this state, they are called " Capons." 

In a similar manner, young Pullets may be caponized, so 
as to deprive them of their reproductive powers, and render 
them more easy to fatten. When thus operated upon, they 
are usually, though improperly, termed " Hen Capons," but 
the French word, ^' j)oularde," is much to be preferred. 

In performing the operation, the first thing to be considered 
is the purchase or procurement of the requisite instruments. 

* I am constrained to question this. — Bd. 



CAPONIZING FOWLS. 



341 



Those most approved of by skilful operators consist of two 
five or seven-pound weights for confining the Fowls; a scalpel^ 




Scalpel. 

for cutting open the thin skin which envelopes the testicles; 
a silver retractor j for stretching open the wound wide enough 



■^--..L^l^ 



Retractor. 



to operate within; a pair of spring forceps, denoted by the 
letter a, in the following page, having a sharp, cutting edge, 
resembling that of a chisel, with a bevel half an inch in its 
greatest width, for making the incision, and securing the thin 



342 



CAPONIZING FOWLS. 



membrane covering tlie testicles ; 
a spoon-shaped instrument^ hj with 
a sharp hook at one end, for push- 
ing and removing the testicles, 
adjusting the loop, and to assist 
in tearing open the tender cover- 
ing of the testicles 5 and a clouhle 
silver canula, c, for containing 
the two ends of horse-hair or 
fibre, constituting the loop. 

The cost of these instruments in 
New York, is nearly as follows : — 



Scalpel, .... 
Silver Retractor, . . 
Spring Forceps, . . 
Spoon, with hook . . 
Double Silver Canula, 



$0.62J 
1.50 
0.87i 
0.75 
1.75 

$5.50 



Those who are not particularly 
nice about the matter, may use 
a cheap penknife instead of the 
scalpel, and may obtain the other 
instruments of a cheaper con- 
struction, so that the whole will 
not cost more than half the sum 
indicated above. 

The Cockerels intended for Ca- 
pons should be of the largest 
breeds, as the Dorking, the Bucks 
County, Cochin China, or the 
great Malay. They may be ope- 
rated upon at any time after they 
are a month old, though at an age of from two to three 
months is considered preferable. If possible, it should be 




CAPONIZING FOWLS. - 343 

done before July, as it has been remarked that Capons made 
later than this, never prove so fine. 




Cockerel confined for Caponizing. 

All things being in readiness, the first step to be taken is 
to confine the Fowl to a table or board, by laying him with 
the left side downward, the wings drawn behind the rump, 
the legs extended backward, with the upper one furthest drawn 
out, and the head and neck left perfectly free, as denoted in 
the above cut. The feathers are next to be plucked from the 
right side, near the hip joint, on a line with, and between, the 
joint of the shoulder, as at a. The space uncovered, may be 
from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, according to 
the size of the bird. 

After drawing the skin off the part, backward, so that, when 
left to itself when the operation is completed, it will cover the 
wound in the flesh, make an incision with the bevel-edged 
knife, at the end of the forceps, between the last two ribs, 
commencing about an inch from the back-bone, and extending 
it obliquely downward, from an inch to an inch and a half, 
just cutting deep enough to separate the ribs, taking due care 
not to wound the intestines. 



344 CAPONIZING FOWL. 

Then, adjust and apply the retractor by means of the small 
thumb screw, and stretch apart the wound sufficiently wide to 
afford room to examine the parts to be removed. 

Then, with the scalpel or a sharp penknife, carefully cut 
open the skin, or membrane, covering the intestines, which, if 
not sufficiently drawn up, in consequence of the previous con- 
finement, may be pushed forward towards the breast-bone, by 
means of the bowl of the spoon-shaped instrument, or, what 
would answer equally well, with the handle of a teaspoon. 

As the testicles are exposed to view, they will be found to be 
connected with the back and sides, by means of a thin mem- 
brane, or skin, which passes over them. This tender covering 
must then be seized with the forceps, and torn open with the 
sharp-pointed hook at the small end of the spoon-shaped in- 
strument, after which, with the left hand, introduce the bowl 
of the spoon under the lower, or left testicle, which is generally 
a little nearer to the rump than the right one. 

Then take the double canula, adjust the hair loop, and, with 
the right hand, pass the loop over the small hooked end of the 
spoon, running it down under the bowl of the spoon containing 
the testicle, so as to bring the loop to act upon the parts which 
connects the testicle to the back. Then, by drawing the ends 
of the hair-loop backward and forward, and at the same time 
pushing the lower end of the tube, or canula, towards the rump 
of the Fowl, the cord, or fastening of the testicle is severed. 

A similar process is then to be repeated with the uppermost 
or right testicle, after which, any remains of the testicles, to- 
gether with the blood at, or around, the bottom of the wound, 
must be scooped out with the bowl of the spoon. The reason 
for cutting out the left testicle first, is to prevent the blood, 
which may issue, from covering the one remaining, and render- 
ing it more difficult to be seen. 

After the preceding operation is performed, which, if skil- 
fully done, occupies only a few minutes, the retractor is taken 



CAPONIZING FOWL. 345 

out, the skin of the Fowl drawn over the wound, which may 
Tbe covered with the feathers that were plucked off at the com- 
mencement, and the Chicken may be released. As soon as it 
is liberated, it will eagerly partake of grain or other food, and 
in a few days be restored to health. 

In some Fowls, the fore part of the thigh covers the two 
hindmost ribs, in which case, care must be observed to draw 
the fleshy part of the thigh well back, to prevent it from be- 
ing cut ; as otherwise, the operation to be performed might 
be liable to lame the Fowl, or even cause its death. 

For loops, nothing answers better than the fibre of a cocoa- 
nut husk, which is rough, and readily separates the testicles 
by sawing. The next best substance for the purpose, is the 
hair of a horse's mane or tail. 

The usual method of making PoulardeSy in France, is, to ex- 
tirpate the egg cluster, or ovaria^ in a similar manner as the 
testicles are extracted from the young Cocks ) but it has been 
shown by Mr. Yarrell, in the " Transactions of the Royal So- 
ciety,'' that it is quite sufficient merely to cut across the Egg 
tube, or oviduct, with a sharp knife. Poulardes may otherwise 
be treated in the same manner as the Capons. 

Capons are fattened precisely in the same manner as other 
Fowls, by keeping them cooped up in a quiet, dark place, and 
cramming, or otherwise feeding them abundantly. 



346 



CHAPTER XXI. 



PEA FOWL. 



In presenting this splendid Bird to the notice of the reader, 
I have only to say, that Mr. Croome has faithfully and beau- 
tifully portrayed it, and that Mr. Dixon admirably describes 
it. After speaking of the perfection of its combination of 
grace and beauty, he says : — 

The causes which disincline many persons from indulging 
themselves with the daily spectacle of this inapproachable 
model of beauty, are, in the first place, the depredations that 
it commits upon gardens. For this, there is no help. The 
dislike which these birds have to enter a fowl-house, and their 
decided determination to roost on trees or lofty buildings, pre- 
vents our exercising a control which should restrain them from 
mischief, till an eye can be kept upon their movements. At 
the first dawn, or at the most unsuspected moments, they will 
steal off to their work of plunder. With great conveniences 
for keeping them in their proper places, I was compelled to 
choose between the alternative of banishing a very perfect and 
familiar pair, or of depriving my children of strawberries. A 
friend, who has been well acquainted with their habits for 
years, informs me, as the result of his experience, that their 
cunning is such, that, if frequently driven away from the gar- 
den at any particular hour of the day or evening, after a cer- 




JAVANESE PEA FOWL. 



PEAFOWL. 847 

tain time they will never be found there at that special hour, 
but will invariably make their inroads at daybreak. As a 
last resource, I have tried ejecting them with every mark of 
scorn and insult, such as harsh words, the cracking of whips, 
and the throwing of harmless brooms. Most domestic animals, 
and I believe many birds, are sensitive of disrespectful usage, 
and would feel as a severe rebuke, the manner in which they 
were thus turned out. But Pea Fowls are incorrigible ma- 
rauders. 

A mansion, therefore, whose fruit and vegetable garden is 
at a distance, is almost the only place where they can be kept 
without daily vexation. The injury they do to flowers is com- 
paratively trifling ; though, like the Gruinea Fowl, they are 
great eaters of buds, cutting them out from the axillas of leaves 
as cleanly as a surgeon's dissecting-knife would. They must 
also have a dusting-hole, which is large and unsightly; but 
this can be provided for them in some out-of-the-way nook ; 
and, by feeding and encouragement, they will soon be taught 
to dispose themselves into a tableau vivant, at whatever point 
of view the tasteful eye may deem desirable. No one with a 
very limited range, should attempt to keep them at all, unless 
confined in an aviary. But, where they can be kept at large, 
they should be collected in considerable numbers, that their 
dazzling effect may be as impressive as possible. Many gar- 
denless castles and country-houses on the Continent would lose 
their semi-barbarous and semi-ruinous appearance, by employ- 
ing these birds as an embellishment. For they are not less 
pleasing to the eye than the Stork, which is so much encour- 
aged 'j and they would render in great measure the same ser- 
vices, namely, the destruction of small reptiles, with the advan- 
tage of remaining at home all the year round. Willughby 
gives a ludicrous quotation from Johannes Faber, in reference 
to the serpent-eating propensities of the Pea Fowl, which is too 
coarse, both in idea and expression, for modern republication, 



348 PEAFOWL. 

though not otherwise objectionable. Something of the kind is 
popularly believed, perhaps not utterly without truth, respec- 
ting Herons and Eels. But to these Continental residences it 
should be understood that no vineyard be at hand. The green- 
ness and sourness of the grapes, which caused the Fox to re- 
frain, would be but a weak argument with them. A Peacock, 
that was suffered to go at large in the dirty back lanes of a 
town, struck me as being more out of its place than any I had 
ever seen. 

A charming instance of the ornamental use of Pea Fowl was 
to be seen a dozen years ago, (and perhaps may still,) at the 
Palace of Caserta, near Naples. There is an English garden,* 
admirably laid out, on a slope commanding the most enchant- 
ing views In one part is a small piece of water, in the midst 
of which is an island planted with trees and shrubs, and in- 
habited by numerous Pea Fowl.f Of course, they must be 
pinioned, to prevent their escape. My own birds had no hesi- 
tation in flying to and fro, in order to visit an island similarly 
situated, and which is cultivated as a kitchen garden. , People 
may talk about Humming-birds, Sun-birds, Birds of Paradise, 



* The gravel for some of the walks was brought from Kensington. 

f Therefore this genus of Fowls is most easily kept in the small 
woody islands which lie before Italy. For since they can neither fly 
very high nor for a long distance, and since there is no fear of loss by 
theives or vermin, they can safely go at large without a keeper, and 
find themselves the greater part of their food. The Peahens, indeed, 
as if freed from slavery, will, of their own accord feed their young 
with greater care ; nor should their keeper do more than call the 
flock toward the farm at a certain time of the day by a known signal, 
and throw them a little barley as they assemble, so that the birds 
may not be famished, and their number may be told. But the op- 
portunity of using this kind of landed property is rare." — Columella^ 
lib. viii. cap. xi. This is very like our pheasantries in alder and 
osier carrs. The whole chapter is curious and worth reading. 



PEA FOWL. 349 

or any other feathered beauty, hut nothing can equal the mag- 
nificence of a Peacock in full flight, sweeping across a sheet of 
water, or glancing in the sunbeams among the topmost branches 
of a fir-tree. 

A second objection to them is their alleged wanton de- 
struetiveness towards the young of other Poultry,* a propen- 
sity respecting which I have heard and readf such contradic- 
tory statements, that they can only be reconciled by the hy- 
pothesis that the Peacock becomes more cruel as he advances 
in life, and also that males of this species vary in disposition ; 
that, as the human race has produced examples of such diverse 
tempers, so the Peacock family includes individuals of different 
degrees of blood-thirstiness. My own bird, three years old, 
was perfectly inoffensive ; others have been mentioned to me 
equally pacific. On the other hand, the list of murders un- 
doubtedly committed is long and heavy. The friend before 
mentioned says, ^^ I have known them kill from twelve to 
twenty ducklings, say from a week to a fortnight old, during 
one day ; but if they came across a brood of young Chicks or 
Ducklings a few days old, they would destroy the whole of 
them." And yet, in the face of all this condemnatory evidence, 



* Columella gives a fanciful reason for keeping Hens that have fa- 
milies of Chickens from coming near Peahens that have broods, which 
relieves the latter at least from all blame. "Authors are sufficiently 
agreed that other Hens, which are rearing young of their own kind, 
ought not to feed in the same place. For after they have seen the 
brood of the Pea Fowl, they cease to cherish their own, and desert 
them while still immature, clearly hating them, because neither in 
size nor beauty are they comparable to the Peacock." — Book vii., 
chap. xi. 

f See the " Penny Cyclopedia," article Pavonidae : "I have never 
kept Pea Fowl, nor seen Chicks just hatched, but have witnessed the 
abominable cruelty of the father of the family in knocking a whole 
brood of them on the head, when nearly a quarter grown." — H. H, 



350 PEA FOWL. 

we now and then see a favourite bird, witli neck of lapis lazuli, 
back of emerald, wings of tortoise-shell, and tail outshining the 
rainbow, in some old-fashioned farm-yard, the pet of his mis- 
tress, who is perhaps the most successful Poultry-woman in the 
neighbourhood, and whose stock shows no sign of any mur- 
derous thinning. The Peahen, who, when she has Eggs or 
young, seems really a more guilty party, is not in general even 
suspected. So true is it that one man may steal a horse, while 
another must not look over the hedge. 

The Hen does not lay till her third summer; but she then 
seems to have an instinctive fear of her mate, manifested by 
the secresy with which she selects the place for her nest ; nor, 
if the Eggs are disturbed, will she go there again. She lays 
from four or five to seven. If these are taken, she will fre- 
quently lay a second time during the summer, and the plan is 
to be recommended to those who are anxious to increase their 
stock. She sits from twenty-seven to twenty-nine days. A 
common Hen will hatch and rear the young ; but the same 
objection lies against her performing that office, except in 
very fine long summers, for the Pea Fowl as for Turkeys } 
namely, that the poults require to be brooded longer than the 
Hen is able convenienty to do so. A Turkey will prove a 
much better foster-mother in every respect. The Peahen 
should of course be permitted to take charge of one set of 
Eggs. Even without such assistance she will be tolerably suc- 
cessful. Those students of Poultry who carefully read the 
" Guinea Fowl" and the " Turkey," and industriously carry 
the instructions there given into practice, will have no diffi- 
culty in rearing Pea Chicks. The same wise provision of 
nature to be noticed in the Guinea Fowl, is evinced in a still 
greater degree in the little Pea Chicks. Their native jungle, 
tall, dense, sometimes impervious, swarming with reptile, 
quadruped, and even insect enemies, would be a most dan- 
gerous habitation for a little tender thing that could run and 



PEA FOWL. 851 

squat merely. Accordingly they escape from the Egg with 
their quill-feathers very highly developed. In three days 
they will fly up and perch upon any thing three feet high ; in 
a fortnight they will roost on trees or the tops of sheds, and 
at a month or six weeks you would see them on the ridge of a 
barn, if there were any intermediate low stables or other 
building that would help them to mount from one to the 
other. It must be a clever snake that would get at the cun- 
ning little rogues when they were once perched on the feathery 
branch of a bamboo. . . . 

There are two varieties of the common Pea Fowl, namely, 
the Pied and the White. The first has irregular patches of 
white about it, like the Pied Guinea Fowl, the remainder of the 
plumage resembling the original sort. The White have the 
ocellated spots on the tail faintly visible in certain lights. 
These last are tender, and are much prized by those who 
prefer rarity to real beauty. They are occasionally produced 
by birds of the common kind, in cases where no intercourse 
with other White birds can have taken place. In one in- 
stance, in the same brood, whose parents were both of the 
usual colours, there were two of the common sort, and one 
White Cock and one White Hen. The old notion respecting 
them, which has given rise to serious theoretical errors and to 
many false inferences, is, that they originated in the north, in 
Norway or Sweden ; the climate in which Ptarmigan, Snow 
Buntings, Alpine Hares, &c., annually put on a white livery, 
having made them permanently white. From some minds this 
false idea has yet to be eradicated -, it was the foundation of 
several of Buffon's boldest speculations respecting the influ- 
ence of climate on the forms of animals, leading him to 
hazard the assertion, among others, that the Silver Pheasant 
is only the common Pheasant changed to a lighter hue by mi- 
gration to a more northerly region, while he forgot that the 
Silver and the Common Pheasant are both natives of the same 



352 PEA FOWL. 

districts of China and India, and that Aldrovandi, from whom 
he gleaned the error, instantly refutes it, by stating that 
White Pea Fowl are frequently hatched in Madeira and the 
neighbouring islands. Temminck has well discussed the Paon 
Blanc, in his Hist. Nat des Gallinaces, torn. ii. 




THE RING- NECKED PHEASANT. 



363 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 

The Phasianus Torquatus, or Ring-necked Pheasant, of 
which the artist has given such a life-like portrait from nature, 
is but a variety of the common Pheasant. It is, perhaps, a 
trifle larger than the Brown Pheasant, with which it is asso- 
ciated in almost every preserve in England. The Cock should 
weigh about three pounds. 

This genus may generally be characterized by a strong bill, 
the upper part of which is convex, and naked at the base ; the 
nostrils are lateral and covered with a cartilaginous scale. 
'^ The head is clothed with feathers, but the region of the eyes, 
for a considerable space, is covered with a naked verucose skin, 
generally of a bright vermilion. The wings are short, but 
firm and compact. The tail is remarkably long, and generally 
wedge-shaped. The feet have the anterior toes united by a 
membrane to the first joint. The hind-toe is articulated upon 
the tarsus, which, in the male, is furnished with a strong 
conical, sharp spur. The plumage of the male is generally of 
the most brilliant tints." In the natural state, they live on 
fruits and roots, and the larger seeds ; they are very active 
on the ground, and though their short wings prevent them 
from taking a long and sustained flight, their power is suffi- 
cient to carry them away from ordinary dangers. 

It is now generally admitted that the Pheasant was originally 

30* 



354 THE RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 

introduced in Europe from the banks of the Phasis, (near the 
Rioni,) a river in Chalchis, in Asia Minor. Of the time of 
its introduction we are not certain. As early as the year 
1299, it is mentioned (Echard's History) as worth four pence ; 
and two hundred of them made part of the great feast of the 
Archbishop Neville, about the middle of the fifteenth century. 

The markings and splendid hues of the plumage of the 
male bird are generally known, and so well set forth by the 
artist, that any detailed description will be unnecessary. 

The ringed variety chiefly inhabits the forests of China, 
where the common kind is also abundant ; but in this state 
they never breed together. The Eggs of the former also 
differ; they are of a pale bluish green, marked with small 
blotches of a deeper tint, while those of the latter variety are 
of an olive-white, and without any spots. 

Of the habits- of these birds, in a state of nature, we know 
but little, and yet have no reason to doubt their similarity to 
those exhibited in their present half domestic state in Europe 
and this country. 

As they are now found in preserves, woods with a thick 
under-growth of brush, brambles, long grass, &c., interspersed 
with open glades, which some little stream refreshes and the 
sun enlivens, are their delight during the day, and from which 
they run, morning and evening, to the open skirts, where some 
favourite food abounds. It is in their way to such feeding 
grounds, that they are so easily secured by unscrupulous per- 
sons; for, never taking flight, unless disturbed, they run and 
thread their way through these tangled brakes, and leave pas- 
sages which are easily distinguished by the practised eye of 
the poacher. During the winter, the Pheasant goes regularly to 
roost; but, in the summer, and when moulting, they do not 
tree, but squat among the long grass, ofi'ering themselves, in 
this way, an easy prey to another class of enemies, as Polecats, 
Foxes, &c. The males, in general, associate among themselves 



THE RING-NECKED PHEAS.ANT. 355 

during the winter, and separate from the females. They 
come together again about the first of March, when the male 
assumes an altered appearance ; the scarlet of his cheeks, and 
around his eyes, acquires additional depth of colour, he walks 
with a more measured step, with his wings let down, and 
with his tail carried in a more erect position. Being poly- 
gamous, he now takes possession of a certain heatj from which 
he drives every male intruder, and commences his crowing, 
attended with a peculiar clapping of the wings, which answers 
as the note of invitation to the other sex, as well as of defiance 
to his own. 

As previously stated, the food of the Pheasant is tender 
roots, insects with their larvae — as the autumn advances, 
the ripening' grains of all kinds are abundant, and the wild 
fruits and berries, which a kind Providence has everywhere 
provided, render this their time of feasting. As winter ap- 
proaches, they are reduced to less various fare, and resort to 
the fallow and turnip-fields, in search of roots, &c. In well- 
kept preserves, during this season, they are always regularly 
fed, and know the feeding-hour and call of the keeper cor- 
rectly, and by this means they are prevented from straying. 
The most successful and favourite food, at these times, is peas 
or grain. 

Although it is rather difficult to effect a cross between the 
Pheasant and our Domestic Fowl, it has nevertheless been 
done ; but, beyond a first cross, the thing is generally regarded 
as impracticable. Poultry have been kept on the borders of a 
wood abounding with Pheasants, and occasionally a few half- 
bred birds are procured. Sir William Jardine had a specimen 
of the cross in his possession, exhibiting all the mixed cha- 
racters in perfection. M. Temminck also records a solitary in- 
stance of a mule between the female common Pheasant and the 
male Golden-Pheasant, which presented a curious but splendid 
mixture; all his endeavours, however, to procure a second 



356 THE RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 

specimen were ineffectual. The common Pheasant breeds 
also freely with the Ring-necked bird, and the offspring is pro- 
ductive ; this by some is regarded as a proof that these two 
birds are identical. 

The following paragraph, which I quote from Mr. Nolan, of 
Dublin, will be interesting to those who desire to try their 
skill in breeding and rearing this beautiful bird. He says : — ■ 

" The Pheasant is not only beautiful to the eye, but most de- 
licate when served to the table. Its flesh is considered the 
greatest dainty. When the old physicians spoke of the whole- 
someness of any viands, they made their comparison with the 
flesh of the Pheasant. No matter with what care they have 
been bred or propagated, they disdain the protection of man, 
and shelter in the thickest covers and remotest forests. All 
others of the Domestic Fowl submit to the protection of man; 
but the Pheasant never has, preferring the scanty produce of 
acorns and berries to the abundant supply of a farm-yard. The 
Hen Pheasant, in a wild state, hatches and brings up her brood 
with patience, vigilance, and courage ; but when kepttame, she 
never sits well. A substitute must be found in the clean- 
legged Bantam, the larger Fowl being too heavy for the Chicks. 
Her time of laying is about the middle of April, and, if in an 
aviary, the Eggs should be immediately removed, and placed 
in dry bran or chaff, until you wish to set them. They are 
about twenty-four days coming out. After the young ones ap- 
pear, they are not to be fed for twenty-four hours, after which 
give them hard-boiled Egg, chopped fine, and mixed with oat- 
meal, ant-mould, cheese, curd, lettuce cut fine, white flour 
wetted with sweet milk, bread crumbs, bread and milk, with 
very limited drink. Be particular to preserve them from cold 
and moisture. You will have to confine the Hen, so as to pre- 
vent her eating their food; and you will have to provide them 
with maggots. In the neighbourhood of Paris, where they rear 
quantities of young Fowl, for the market, they prepare what 



THE RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 357 

they call a vermineerj by digging a hole in a dry, sandy spot, 
in which they place a piece of flesh, which soon gets into mag- 
gots, with which they feed the young birds. My own vermi- 
neer is of much simpler and economic construction. I have an 
earthen pan, about two feet deep, and one foot diameter, into 
which I put some bran ; on this I place a piece of liver or 
carrion. I cover it with a common glass cap, and place it in 
the sun. The flesh soon gets fly-blown, and speedily creates 
quantities of maggots, and, with a long-handled spoon, I have 
them thrown to the young birds. They should not get more 
than one feed of those in the day. The more varied their 
food, and the more frequently renewed, the better. Fresh, 
and a little at a time. The green leaves of barley are ex- 
cellent. At three months old, feed them on barley, with 
a little wheat, boiled carrots, or potatoes, mixed with bread- 
crumbs. Grive a small portion of boiled rice during the moult. 
If they should get the roup, give them fresh curd every day. 
To make alum curd, take new milk, as much as your young 
birds require, and boil it with a lump of alum, so as not to 
make the curd hard and tough, but custard-like. A little of 
this curd and ant's eggs, should be given to them twice a day, 
in addition to their other food. Keep their vessels clean ; and, 
if the disease still continue, give them, every second day, a 
small dose of garlic in a little fresh butter. They are subject 
to be vent-bound, which, if not attended to, will kill them. 
The remedy is, with a sharp scissors cut close the down or 
feathers about the vent, and anoint it with sweet-oil, and be 
attentive that it be kept clean, otherwise you cannot rear them ; 
but, in handling them, be particularly cautious that you do it 
with the greatest delicacy, as the least rough handling will 
kill them. If they have a scouring, the alum curd will 
check it. 

There is no difficulty in breeding the common Pheasant in 
a wild state ; but to keep them in an aviary, you will have to 



S58 THE RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 

get a wire-trellis in front, sufficiently close to prevent the 
sparrows and other birds robbing them of their food. The 
saving of the food will very soon compensate you for the 
wire-work, and insure your Pheasants being fed. At the top, 
I would prefer close net-work of moderate-sized cord, well 
painted. The reason is, if the birds get fluttered, they fly 
straight up, and, by a dash against a hard substance, they fre- 
quently fall dead, but by coming in contact with the net, they 
receive no injury. Part of the aviary should be shedded, to 
protect them from the inclemency of the weather ; and I would 
recommend a retiring-place for the Hens to lay in, and perches 
of about one inch diameter. I would advise the retiring-place 
to be laid down with clean straw, but would prefer fine sand 
for their walking-place. Wheat and barley are their best food, 
with occasionally vegetable matter, lettuce, turnip-tops, cab- 
bages, &c. One Cock is sufficient for three or four Hens. 



359 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE TURKEY. 



This is one of those Fowls, that, as yet, are found in the 
wild, as well as in the domestic state. How long this may be, 
is hard to say ; probably, not long ', for as civilization and im- 
provements advance in North America, the country to which 
they belong, they will, doubtless, share the fate of the Dodo 
and Bustard, and be known only in history, or by the speci- 
mens to be seen in the barn-yard. 

As I know comparatively little of this Fowl from experience 
in rearing it, I have sought information of those who " know 
all about it" practically; and none more so than my friend, 
D. Taggart, Esq., to whom I feel much indebted, for his valua- 
ble correspondence on ^' Ornamental and Domestic Poultry.'' 

In answer to some inquiries, in relation to Fowls generally, 
he says, " You have not asked my views on Turkeys, but what 
little I know, I may as well impart. I raised two broods, last 
summer, (1850,) by way of experiment. The first lot, to the 
number of fifteen, were hatched in June, under Hens. With 
these, I was very successful, having lost but one. The Grobblers 
now weigh, (November 29th, 1850,) eleven or twelve pounds, 
the Hens seven or eight pounds : I was very careful of them, 
feeding them on the curds of milk, and waste bread, soaked in 
milk, until they were four or five weeks old. After that, I was 
not so particular. I kept them in the garden, and by the time 



S60 THE TURKEY. 

they were eight weeks old; they had so stripped the onion-beds, 
that not a top was to be seen. It no doubt benefited them 
greatly. With a later brood, I was not so fortunate, — I 
raised but the half of them, and they are stunted and puny. 
On the whole, Turkeys may be set down as tender birds, and 
their raising attended with very uncertain results." 

Having given the reader this "pound of practical experience/' 
which is worth a hundred weight of theory, we will now attend 
to what Mr. Dixon has to say on this subject. He says. 

If we call to mind the many and valuable acquisitions, 
from both the animal and vegetable kingdom, which have been 
made subservient to the use of Man within comparatively a 
very recent period, it is not too much to believe that 6thers, 
of nearly, or quite equal value, still remain to reward the labour 
and pains of a persevering search. There is the whole of cen- 
tral Africa, central Australia, great part of China and northern 
India (which have already afforded us so much,) and innu- 
merable half-explored or unexplored islands, all waiting to be 
ransacked for our benefit. And, without depending on those 
distant regions, we know not yet what we may find at home ; 
seeing that the delicious Seakale — an esculent whose merits 
are yet unknown to many a family of competent means living 
in retirement — has only within the last few years sprung up 
under our very feet ; and the Capercali, by an easy importation, 
has been rescued from extinction in Great Britain. 

Among the living tributaries to the luxury of Man, the 
Turkey is an example of the results yet to be expected from 
the exploring spirit of our day. It is the most recent, and, 
except the Hen and the doose, the most valuable of our do- 
mesticated birds. We may, indeed, call it quite a new intro- 
duction ; for what, after all, is a period of three hundred years 
compared with the time during which Man has had dominion 
over the earth and its brute inhabitants? The obscurity 
which hangs over the transmission of the Turkey from Ame- 



THE TURKEY. 361 

rica, and which there is little chance of clearing away, except 
by industrious ferreting amongst old family records and me- 
morandum-books, shows that those who brought it to the Old 
World had no idea of the value of what they were importing ; 
but probably regarded it like any other remarkable production 
of nature — a Macaw or a Tortoise. The young would be dis- 
tributed among friends with the same feeling that Grolden 
iPheasants and such like are with us ; these again would thrive 
and increase, and the nation would suddenly find itself in the 
possession of a race, not of pleasing pets, but of a valuable, 
prolific, and hardy stock of Poultry. Such I take to be the 
history of the Turkey in England ',^ and the Zoological and 
Ornithological Societies may hereafter find that some creature 
that was disregarded, or undervalued, or even yet unobtained, 
will prove unexpectedly domestic and profitable, (it may be the 
Cereopsis, some of the Indian Polyplectrons, or the elegant 
Honduras Turkey ;) to further which great object of their as- 
sociation, they cannot do better than communicate spare speci- 
mens, on the most liberal and encouraging terms, to such per- 
sons as they believe competent fairly to test their value. 

The varieties of the domesticated Turkey are not very dis- 
tinct. The most so is the Norfolk ; others may nearly all be 
swept into what is called the Cambridge breed, (thus including 



■^ The Norfolk Archaeology, Vol. I., gives a bill of fare of the Coro- 
nation dinner of King Henry VI., a. d., 1429, communicated by the 
Rey. Gr. H. Dash wood, and one dish in the third course is " Great 
Birde;" of which he remarks, " perhaps the Bustard. The Turkey 
was not introduced into England till about the year 1524. I recollect 
being told some years since by one of the family, that an ancestor of 
Sir George Strickland, Bart., brought the first to this country ; what 
truth there is in the claim of the introduction of this delicacy, I 
know not, but the Stricklands bear a ' Turkey Cock in his pride' for 
their crest." 

31 



362 THE TURKEY. 

the Bustard breed and the Dutch copper-coloured,) which, 
however, is as much cultivated in Norfolk as the old local 
stock, and birds of which kind often pass for true Norfolks, 
because they have been procured from that county. The real 
Norfolk Turkey is more hardy, but less ornamental than the 
others, and of smaller size. It is entirely black, except the 
red skin about the head, and a brownish tip to the feathers of 
the tail and some of those of the back. This gives the bird 
a rusty appearance, like an old piece of well-worn cotton velvet. 
The Cambridge sort, when black, have a beautifully shining 
bluish tinge, like a well-polished boot. The Chicks of the 
Norfolks are black, with occasionally white patches about the 
head ; those of the Cambridge variety are mottled all over 
with brownish gray, and are of taller and slenderer proportions. 
The plumage of the Cambridge breed varies very much ; some- 
times it is entirely made up of shades of reddish brown and 
gray, when it is called the Bustard breed ; sometimes of gray, 
black, and white, but frequently it approaches very nearly to 
what we see figured as the wild bird. Owing to the early age 
at which our birds are mostly killed, the tuft on the breast of 
the Hen is seldom so conspicuous as is represented in the Hen 
of the Wild Turkey, in the "Naturalist's Library,'' copied 
from Audubon. 

The pure White Turkeys are very elegant creatures, and 
though the most tender of all to rear, are not so in any thing 
like the same degree as the White Pea Fowl. It is well known 
that most birds, wild as well as tame, occasionally produce 
perfectly white individuals, of more delicate constitution than 
their parents. We cannot doubt that the selection and pairing 
of such, is the way in which the breed of White Turkeys has 
been established and kept up. However, with all care they 
will now and then produce speckled birds, and so show a 
tendency to return to the normal plumage. It is remarkable, 
that in specimens which are else snow-white, the tuft on the 



THE TURKEY. 863 

breast remains coal-black, looking, in the Hens, like a tail of 
ermine, and so showing as a great ornament. The head and 
caruncles on the neck of the male are, when excited, of the 
same blue and scarlet hues. Thus the creature, with small 
portions of black, blue, and scarlet, relieving his snowy and 
trembling flakes of plumage, is truly beautiful; and some few 
farmers keep them, in spite of the disadvantages attending 
them. A merit is, that they dress most temptingly white for 
market. But they are unsuited for miry, smoky, or clayey 
situations, and show and thrive best when they have a range 
of clean, short pasture, on a light or chalky subsoil. 

The American Turkeys are merely a recent importation 
from the New World, of birds whose progenitors were not 
many generations back in a state of nature ; they are, in short, 
fresh blood from the primaeval forests. The most striking 
point in which they difi'er from the best plumaged of the 
Cambridge breed, is the extreme brilliancy of their changeable 
metallic tints. In all the coloured Turkeys these glancing 
tints depend much upon condition. An experienced eye will 
at once see whether Poultry is in good or bad condition, from 
the look of the plumage, just as a groom would pronounce 
upon the smooth or staring coat of his horse. But the 
American Turkeys are ever pre-eminent in this respect. They 
are also more hardy, lively, game-like, and self-dependent, 
searching for their food like Pheasants. Those who have kept 
them, pronounce them to be the most profitable and best-tasted 
breed, as well as the handsomest. The metallic hues of their 
back feathers, when seen in the sunshine, are quite dazzling. 
The Bev. W. J). F., to whom we are indebted for admirable 
specimens, says, "I have always believed these birds to be 
descendants of the true wild breed brought immediately from 
America. The owners of them have constantly laid claim to 
this; in proof whereof, I may mention an anecdote which 
occurred some years since. At that time Earl Powys was 



364 THE TURKEY. 

reputed to be the only possessor of these; and I believe he 
imported them. On one occasion, the earl presented Greorge 
TV. with a fine black charger, which was graciously received; 
but the king is said to have remarked to those in his confi- 
dence, that a horse was of no use to him, as he could not ride, 
but that Earl Powys did possess something which he should 
much value. This was reported to his lordship, and after 
some difiiculty it was found out that a pair of American 
Turkeys would be most acceptable, and they were sent. I 
merely mention this to show that their wild descent was 
believed in high quarters. The late Lord Leicester was also 
said to possess the wild breed ; and I well remember his telling 
my father they were so, and remarking that they got their 
food so much more readily than the tame kinds. I originally 
had my breed from Lord Leicester, and have since crossed 
them with Earl Powj'^s's. The two breeds differ in the latter 
having the wing-feathers, or rather quills, barred with white, 
while Lord Leicester's are wholly dark. Both Cocks and 
Hens are beautifully metallic, far more so than any breed 
that I know. The shape of the Hens is also more elongated, 
and there is a sprightliness about the head, which is also 
better shaped. Audubon's plate of the Turkey strongly re- 
minds me of my own. Much of this may be fancy ; yet I 
have not a doubt upon the subject, but believe that they are 
genuine wild American Turkeys. They also invariably lay 
later than the common breeds.'^ 

A great point in this account is, that the birds are de- 
scended from recently wild ancestors, and have not merely 
been lately brought from America. For this query suggests 
itself to our mind: Are the majority of the American farm- 
yard Turkeys the progeny of individuals domesticated from 
the forest; or, is it not possible that some at least of the 
colonists may have taken out with them tame Turkeys from 
England as stock, and so founded a farm-yard race for parts 



THE TURKEY. 365 

of America ? Such a plan would most likely be less trouble- 
some than the task of taming fresh-caught birds or their 
chicks. If this has ever been the case^ it will be a curious 
return for us to have made, of an enslaved race, to the conti- 
nent to which we owe the original existence of the species 
among us. Some slight notice of the Crested Turkey may be 
expected in these pages, as Temminck (Pigeons et Gallinacesj 
vol. ii. p. 387,) says that it is ^^only a variety or sport of nature 
in the species; it only differs in that it has a crest of feathers, 
sometimes black, sometimes white ; and these Crested Turkeys 
are sufficiently rare. Mademoiselle Backer formerly kept, in 
her magnificent menagerie, near the Hague, a flock of Turkeys 
of a beautiful Isabelle yellow, approaching to chestnut; they 
all had an ample crest of pure white." Albin, publishing in 
1738, gives (vol. ii. p. 30) a coloured print of the white- 
crested Turkey, and says, ^^This bird I saw in the possession 
of Henry Cornellyson, Esq., beyond Chelmsford, in Essex: it 
was of the bigness of the common Turkies, having a beautiful 
large white copple on its crown or top of the head." We 
do not see such freaks of nature now ; nor does a Turkey's 
head, with its movable and erectable skin, look a likely place 
for a plume of feathers to start from. Such a lusus has never 
occurred in the great Turkey-breeding counties of Norfolk, 
Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, and the appearance of the. 
monster would be sure to be observed there, if it took place. 
We therefore may suspect the Crested Turkey to be, like the 
Crested Guinea Fowl, a distinct species, and that it has failed 
to propagate, and so is no longer to be seen among us. The 
suspicion is confirmed by finding in '^ Wild Life in the Interior 
of Central America, by G-eorge Byam, 43d Light Infantry," 
at p. 154, and the following, an account of the discovery of 
Crested Turkeys in a state of nature, which is too long to ex- 
tract. But the subject is most perplexing, and interesting 
from its very mystery. A solution may possibly be effected 

31* 



366 THE TURKEY. 

Tby the noble efforts which the Earl of Derby is unceasingly 
making to further the advance of zoological knowledge. 

One reason why the Turkeys, seen in our Poultry yards, do 
not vie in splendour of plumage with their untamed brethren, 
is that we do not let them live long enough. For the same 
cause we seldom witness the thorough development of their 
temper and disposition. A creature that does not attain its 
full growth till its fifth or sixth year, we kill at latest in the 
second, to the evident deterioration of our stock. But let 
three or four well-selected Cambridge Turkeys, or the before- 
mentioned Americans, be retained to their really adult state, 
and well fed meanwhile, and they will quite recompense their 
keeper by their beauty in full plumage, by their glancing hues 
of gilded green and purple, their lovely shades of brown, 
bronze, and black, and the pearly lustre that radiates from 
their polished feathers. In default of wild specimens, birds 
like these are sought to complete collections of stuffed birds. 

The demand for such large birds among the Fowl-dealers, 
and the temptation to fat them before they arrive at this 
stage, are so great, that few farmers' wives can resist sending 
their eighteen or twenty pound "stag"* to market, while a 
young Cock of the year, they think, will answer every purpose 
next spring as well. Some even deem it an extravagance to 
keep a Turkey Cock at all, if they have not more than two 
Hens, which they would send on a visit of a day or two to a 
neighbour who has a male bird. A case is recorded in which 
such a visit, made in the July or August of one year, was 
available for the Eggs of the succeeding April. The time 



* In Norfolk, Turkey Cocks are called Stags from their second 
year upwards. A bird of the same year weighing, when dressed at 
Christmas, 16 or 17 lbs,, is unusual and considered very good. The 
extra weighty birds shown by the London poulterers are of a corre- 
sponding age. 



THE TURKEY. 367 

when the Hens require this change of air in spring, may be 
known by their lying down on the ground, as if they were 
unwell ; doing so immediately again, if taken up and made to 
walk on, which apparent languor is accompanied by a lack-a- 
daisical love-sick expression of countenance. One Christmas 
we ate or gave away all our Turkeys, (including a magniiScent 
Stag, whose image haunts us still,) except a single Hen. The 
above-mentioned plan was necessarily adopted; and the result 
was, from eleven Eggs, eight Chicks so strong as almost to 
rear themselves. The same system has been occasionally tried 
with Fowls, and has been found not to answer. 

When the Hen has once selected a spot for her nest, she will 
continue to lay there till the time of incubation, so that the 
Eggs may be brought home from day to day, there being no 
need of a nest Egg, as with the common Fowl. She will lay 
from fifteen to twenty Eggs, more or less. If there are any 
dead leaves or dry grass at hand, she will cover her Eggs with 
these ; but if not, she will take no trouble to collect them from 
a distance. Her determination to sit, will be known by her 
constantly remaining on the nest, though empty ; and as it is 
seldom in a position sufl&ciently secure against the weather or 
pilferers, a nest should be prepared for her, by placing some 
straw, with her Eggs, on the floor of a convenient out-house. 
She should then be brought home, and gently and kindly 
placed upon it. It is a most pleasing sight to witness the 
satisfaction with which the bird takes to her long-lost Eggs, 
turning them about, placing them with her bill in the most 
suitable positions, packing the straw tightly around and under 
them, and finally sinking upon them with the quiet joy of an- 
ticipated maternity. 

In the south of England, from fifteen to twenty Eggs may be 
allowed ; but witb the Norfolk variety, which is the smallest, 
and in a northern or eastern county, it is found that moderation 
succeeds better than over-greediness of Chicks. In this case 



368 THE TURKEY. 

thirteen Eggs are enough to give her; a large Hen might 
cover more : but a few strong, well-hatched Chicks are better 
than a large brood of weaklings that have been delayed in the 
shell, perhaps twelve hours over the time, from insufficient 
warmth. At the end of a week, it is usual to add two or three 
Fowls' Eggs, ^^to teach the young Turkeys to peck/' The 
plan is not a bad one ; the activity of the Chickens does stir 
up some emulation in their larger brethren ; the Eggs take up 
but little room in the nest ; and, at the end of the summer, you 
have two or three very fine Fowls, all the plumper for the ex- 
tra diet they have shared with the little Turkeys. 

Some ladies believe it necessary to turn the Eggs once a 
day ; but the Hen does that herself many times a day. If the 
Eggs are marked, and you notice their position when she leaves 
the nest, you will never find them arranged in the same order. 
A person who obtained ninety-nine Chicks from an hundred 
Eggs, took the great trouble to turn each Egg every day with 
her own hand, during the whole time of incubation. The re- 
sult appears favourable ; but, in fact, only amounts to this, 
that such officiousness did no harm with a good, patient, quiet 
creature like the sitting Turkey, but it would probably have 
worried and annoyed any other bird into addling her whole 
clutch. We will at once reject, as utterly absurd and un- 
natural, all directions to immerse or " try'' the Eggs in a pail 
of water, hot or cold. 

In four weeks the little birds will be hatched; and then, 
how are they to be reared ? Some books tell you to plunge 
them in cold water, to strengthen them: those that survive 
will certainly be hardy birds.* -Others say, "Make them 



« Sir J. S. Sebright exposes the folly of endeavouring to make 
young creatures robust by undue exposure to cold and hardship, an 
experiment which some men and women are cruel enough to try upon 
their own offspring. Air and exercise increase the strength of any 



THE TURKEY. 369 

swallow a whole pepper-corn ;" which is as if we were to cram 
a London pippin down the throat of a new-born babe. Others 
again say, " Grive them a little ale, beer, or wine.^' We know, 
unhappily, that some mothers are wicked enough to give their 
infants gin, and we know the consequences. Not a few advise 
that they be taken away^ and kept in a basket by the fire-side, 
wrapped in flannel, for eight or ten hours. Why take them 
away from her ? She has undergone no loss, nor pain, nor 
labour: she wants no rest, having had too much of that 
already. All she requires is the permission to indulge un- 
disturbed the natural exercise of her own affectionate instinct. 
Grive them nothing ; do nothing to them : let them be iu 
the nest under the shelter of their mother's wings, at least 
eight or ten hours ; if hatched in the afternoon, till the fol- 
lowing morning. Then place her on the grass, in the sun, 
under a roomy coop. If the weather be fine, she may be sta- 
taioned where you choose, by a long piece of flannel-list tied 
round one leg, and fastened to a stump or a stone. But the 
boarded coop saves her ever-watchful anxiety from the dread 



growing animal, but cold and hunger only dwarf and weaken. We 
see robust children in extremely poor families, not because they are 
poor, but because, if they were not robust, they would not be alive at 
all. Sir John, in his " Treatise on Improving the Breeds of Do- 
mestic Animals," pp. 15, 16, says, " In cold and barren countries, no 
animals can live to the age of maturity but those that have strong 
constitutions ; the weak and the unhealthy do not live to propagate 
their infirmities, as is too often the case with our domestic animals. 
To this I attribute the peculiar hardiness of the horses, cattle, and 
sheep, bred in mountainous countries, more than to their having been 
inured to the severity of the climate ; for our domestic^, animals do 
not become more hardy by being exposed, when young, to cold and 
hunger : animals so treated will not, when arrived at the age of ma- 
turity, endure so much hardship as those who have been better kept 
m their infant state." 



870 THE TURKEY. 

of enemies above and behind — the carrion-crow, the hawk, the 
rat, the weasel; and also protects herself — she will protect her 
young — ^from the sudden showers of summer. Offer at first a 
few crumbs of bread : the little ones, for some hours, will be 
in no hurry to eat ; but when they do begin, supply them 
constantly and abundantly with chopped egg, shreds of meat 
and fat, curd, boiled rice mixed with cress, lettuce, and the 
green of onions. Melted mutton-suet poured over barley-meal, 
and cut up when cold ; also bullock's liver boiled and minced, 
are excellent things. Barley-meal, mixed thick and stiff with 
water or milk, nettle-tops, leeks, goose-grass, or cleavers, and 
many other things, might be added to the list ; but it is pro- 
bable that a few of these may now and then be refused by some 
fanciful little rogues. I think I have observed that little 
Turkeys do not like their food to be minced much smaller than 
they can swallow it ; indolently preferring to make a meal at 
three or four mouthfuls than to trouble themselves with the 
incessant pecking and scratching in which Chickens so much 
delight. But, at any rate, the quantity consumed costs nothing; 
the attention to supply it is every thing. 

Young Turkeys are sometimes attacked by fasciolse, or 
worms in the trachea, but not so often as Chickens. Cramp 
is the most fatal to them, particularly in bad weather. A few 
pieces of board, laid under and about the coop, are useful : 
sometimes rubbing the legs with spirit will bring the circu- 
lation back again. 

The time when the Turkey Hen may be allowed full liberty 
with her brood, depends so much on season, situation, &c., 
that it must be left to the exercise of the keeper's judgment. 
Some, whose opinion is worthy of attention, think that if the 
young are thriving, the sooner the old ones are out with them 
the better, after the first ten days or so. A safer rule may be 
fixed at the season called ^' shooting the red," a "disease,'' as 
eome compilers are pleased to term it : being about as much 



THE TURKEY. 371 

a disease as when the eldest son of the Turkey's master and 
mistress shoots his beard. When young Turkeys approach the 
size of a Partridge, or before, the granular fleshy excrescences 
on the head and neck begin to appear ; soon after, the whole 
plumage, particularly the tail-feathers start into rapid growth, 
and the '•'■ disease' ' is only to be counteracted by liberal nou- 
rishment. If let loose at this time they will obtain much by 
foraging, and still be thankful for all you choose to give them. 
Caraway-seeds, as a tonic, are a great secret with some pro- 
fessional people. They will doubtless, be beneficial, if added 
to plenty of barley, boiled potatoes, chopped vegetables, and 
refuse meat. And now is the time that Turkeys begin to be 
troublesome and voracious. What can you expect else from a 
creature that is to grow from the size of a lark to twelve or 
fourteen pounds, in eight or nine months ? " Corn-sacks, coffers 
for oats, barn-swallowers, ill neighbours to peasen," are epi- 
thets deservedly earned. They will jump into the potato- 
ground, scratch the ridges on one side, eat every grub, wire- 
worm, or beetle that they find, and every half-grown potato. 
From thence they will proceed to the Swedes ; before the bulbs 
are formed, they will strip the green from the leaves, thereby 
checking the subsequent growth of the root. At a subsequent 
period, they will do the same to the white turnips, and here 
and there take a piece out of the turnip itself. They are seldom 
large enough before harvest to make so much havoc among the 
standing corn, as Cocks and Hens and G-uinea Fowl, or they 
have not yet acquired the taste for it; but when the young 
wheat comes up, in October and November, they will exhibit 
their graminivorous propensities to the great disadvantage of 
the farmer. The farmer's wife sees them not, says nothing, 
but at Christmas boasts of the large amount of her Turkey- 
money. One great merit in old birds (besides their orna- 
mental value, which is our special recommendation) is, that in 
situations where nuts, acorns, and mast are to be had, they will 



872 THE TURKEY. 

lead off their brood to these, and comparatively (that is all) 
abstain from ravaging other crops. It is, therefore, not fair 
for a small occupier to be overstocked with Turkeys, (as is too 
often the case ; and with other things also,) and then to let 
them loose, like so many harpies, to devastate and plunder 
their neighbours' fields. 



^ ' ''fit 




373 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THEGUINEAFOWL. 

This Bird, in some measure, unites the characteristics of the 
Pheasant and the Turkey, it has the delicate shape of the one, 
and the bare head of the other. There are several varieties, 
as the White, the Spotted, the Madagascar, and the Crested. 
This latter is not so large as the common species ; the head 
and neck are hare, of a dull blue, shaded with red, and, in- 
stead of the casque, it has an ample crest of hairy-like disunited 
feathers, of a bluish black, reaching as far forward as the nos- 
trils, but in general turned backwards. '^The whole plumage, 
except the quills, is of a bluish black, covered with small 
grayish spots, sometimes four, sometimes six on each feather.^' 

This Bird is frequently called "Pintado," but Mr. Dixon 
says : — We have refrained from applying the term " Pintado" 
to the Gruinea Fowl : that word signifying, in the Portuguese 
language, " painted," and having been first appropriated to the 
black and white-chequered Petrel (jProoellaria Capensis) by 
the navigators who found them in the South Seas. The 
Guinea Fowl is frequently called a Grallina, especially in Ire- 
land. But under whatever denomination, it is no great 
favourite with many keepers of Poultry, and is one of those 
unfortunate beings, which, from having been occasionally 
guilty of a few trifling faults, has gained a much worse repu- 

32 



374 GUINEA FOWL. 

tation than it really deserves, as if it were the most ill-behaved 
bird in creation : — whereas, it is useful, ornamental, and inter- 
esting during its life ; and, when dead, a desirable addition to 
our dinners, at a time when all other Poultry is scarce. 

The best way to hegin keeping Gruiaea Fowls is to procure 
a sitting of Eggs from some friend or neighbour on whom you 
can depend for their freshness, and also, if possible, from a 
-place where only a single pair is kept. The reason of this will 
be explained hereafter. A Bantam Hen is the best mother ; 
she is lighter, and less likely to injure them by treading on 
them than a full-sized Fowl. She will cover nine Eggs, and 
incubation will last a month. The young are excessively 
pretty. When first hatched, they are so strong and active as 
to appear not to require the attention really necessary to rear 
them. Almost as soon as they are dry from the moisture of 
the Egg, they will peck each other's toes, as if supposing them 
to be worms, will scramble with each other for a crumb of 
bread, and will domineer over any little Bantam or Chicken 
that may perhaps have been brought off in the same clutch 
with themselves. No one, who did not know, would guess, 
from their appearance, of what species of bird they were the 
offspring. 

The young of the Guinea Fowl are striped like those of the 
Emu, as shown in the late Mr. Bennett's pleasing description 
of the Zoological Gardens, as they were in his days. Their 
orange-red bills and legs, and the dark, zebra-like stripes with 
which they are regularly marked from head to tail, bear no 
traces of the speckled plumage of their parents. 

Ants' Eggs, (so called,) hard-boiled Egg chopped fine, small 
worms, maggots, bread-crumbs, chopped meat or suet, what- 
ever, in short, is most nutritious, is their most appropriate food. 
This need not be offered to them in large quantities, as it 
would only be devoured by the mother Bantam as soon as she 
saw that her little ones had for the time satisfied their appe- 



GUINEA FOWLS. 375 

tites, or would be stolen by sparrows, &c. ; but it should be 
frequently administered to tbem in small supplies. Feeding 
them three, four, or five times a day, is not nearly often 
enough; every half-hour during daylight they should be 
tempted to fill their little craws, which are soon emptied again 
by an extraordindry power and quickness of digestion. The 
newly-hatched Guinea Fowl is a tiny creature, a mere infini- 
tesimal of the full-grown bird ; its growth is consequently very 
rapid, and requires incessant supplies. A. check once received 
can never be recovered. In such cases they do not mope and 
pine for a day or two, like young Turkeys under similar cir- 
cumstances, and then die ; but, in half an hour after being in 
apparent health, they fall on their backs, give a convulsive 
kick or two, and fall victims, in point of fact, to starvation. 
The demands of nature for the growth of bone, muscle, and 
particularly of feather, are so great, that no subsequent abund- 
ant supply of food can make up for a fast of a couple of hours. 
The feathers still go on, grow, grow, grow, in geometrical pro- 
gression, and drain the sources of vitality still faster than they 
can be supplied, till the bird faints and expires from inani- 
tion. I have even fancied that I have seen a growth of quill 
and feather after death in young Poultry which we have failed 
in rearing. The possibility of such a circumstance is sup- 
ported by the well-known fact of the growth of hair and nails 
in many deceased persons. 

This constant supply of suitable food is, I believe, the great 
secret in rearing the more delicate birds, Turkeys, Guinea 
Fowls, Pheasants, &c.; never to sufi*er the growth of the Chick 
(which goes on, whether it has food in its stomach or not,) to 
produce exhaustion of the vital powers, for want of the ne- 
cessary aliment. Young Turkeys, as soon as they once feel 
languid from this cause, refuse their food when it is at last 
offered to them, (just like a man whose appetite is gone, in 
consequence of having waited too long for his dinner,) and 



376; GUINEA FOWLS. 

never would eat more, were food not forced down their throats, 
by which operation they may frequently be recovered; but the 
little Guinea Fowls give no notice of this faintness, till they 
are past all cure ; and a struggle of a few minutes, shows that 
they have indeed outgrown their strength, or, rather, that the 
material for producing strength has not been supplied to them 
in a degree commensurate with their growth. 

A dry sunny corner in the garden will be the best place to 
coop them with their Bantam Hen. As they increase in 
strength, they will do no harm, but a great deal of good, by 
devouring worms, grubs, caterpillars, maggots, and all sorts of 
insects. By the time their bodies are little bigger than those 
of sparrows, they will be able to fly with some degree of 
strength 3 and it is very pleasing to see them essay the use of 
their wings at the call of their foster-mother, or the approach 
of their feeder. It is one out of millions of instances of the 
provident wisdom of the Almighty Creator, that the wing and 
tail feathers of young gallinaceous birds, with which they re- 
quire to be furnished at the earliest possible time, as a means 
of escape from their numerous enemies, exhibit the most rapid 
growth of any part of their frame. Other additions to their 
complete stature are successively and less immediately deve- 
loped. The wings of a Chicken are soon fl.edged enough to be 
of great assistance to it; the spurs, comb, and ornamental 
plumage do not appear till quite a subsequent period. 

When the young Guinea Fowls are about the size of 
thrushes, or perhaps a little larger, (unless the summer be very 
fine,) their mother Bantam (which we suppose to be a tame, 
quiet, matronly creature) may be suffered to range loose in 
the orchard and shrubbery, and no longer permitted to enter 
the garden, lest her family should acquire a habit of visiting it 
at a time when their presence would be less welcome than for- 
merly. They must still, however, receive a bountiful and 
frequent Supply of food ; they are not to be considered safe 



GUINEA rOWLS. 8^7 

till the horn on their head is fairly grown. Oatmeal, (^. e. groats,) 
is a great treat, cooked potatoes, boiled rice, any thing in short 
that is eatable, may be thrown down to them. They will pick 
the bones left after dinner, with great satisfaction, and no doubt 
benefit to themselves. The tamer they can be made, the less 
troublesome will those birds be which you retain for stock ; 
the more kindly they are treated, the more they are petted and 
pampered, the fatter and better conditioned will those others 
become which you design for your own table, or as presents 
to your friends, and the better price will you get if you send 
them to market. 

Of all known birds, this, perhaps, is the most prolific of 
Eggs. Week after week, and month after month, sees no, or 
very rare intermission of the daily deposit. Even the process 
of moulting is sometimes insufficient to draw off the nutriment 
the creature takes to make feathers instead of Eggs, and the 
poor thing will sometimes go about half-naked in the chilly 
autumnal months, like a Fowl that had escaped from the cook 
to avoid a preparation for the spit ; unable to refrain from its 
diurnal visit to the nest, and consequently unable to furnish 
itself with a new great coat. As the body of a good cow is a 
distillery for converting all sorts of herbage into milk, and no- 
thing else, or as little else as possible, so the body of the Gui- 
nea Hen is a most admirable machine for producing Eggs 
out of insects, vegetables, grain, garbage, or whatever an om- 
nivorous creature can lay hold of. 

From this great aptitude for laying, which is a natural 
property, and not an artificially encouraged habit, and also 
from the very little disposition they show to sit, I am inclined 
to suspect that, in their native country, the dry, burning 
wastes of Central Africa, they do not sit at all on their Eggs, 
but leave them to be hatched by the sun, like Ostriches, to 
which they bear a close affinity. That they do in this country 
occasionally sit and hatch, is no valid objection to this idea, 

32* 



378 GUINEA FOWLS. 

but only an instance of habits modified by a change of climate, 
similar to the cessation of torpidity, and to the brown, instead 
of white, winter dress in animals brought from the arctic re- 
gions to temperate climates. Even in Grreat Britain, there 
are not enough Guinea Fowls hatched by their actual parents, 
to keep the breed from becoming extinct in a few years. It 
is certain that the sands of tropical Africa are more than hot 
enough to hatch them, and that the young birds are unusually 
vivacious and independent, if they have but a supply of proper 
food, which they would find in the myriads of insects engen- 
dered there. They are also found wild on the Island of As- 
cension, but it is doubtful whether any accurate account of 
their habits or mode of increase there is yet extant. 

The normal plumage of the Gruinea Fowl is singularly 
beautiful, being spangled over with an infinity of white spots 
on a black ground, shaded with gray and brown. The spots 
vary from the size of a pea to extreme minuteness. Rarely 
the black and white change places, causing the bird to appear 
as if covered with a net-work of lace. 

A white variety is not uncommon, and is asserted by a 
Yorkshire correspondent of the "G-ardener's Chronicle," to be 
equally hardy and profitable with the usual kind ; but the pe- 
culiar beauty of the original plumage is, surely, ill exchanged 
for a dress of not the purest white. It is doubtful for how 
long either this or the former one would remain permanent; 
probably but for few generations. Pied birds, blotched with 
patches of white, are frequent, but are not comparable, in point 
of beauty, with those of the original wild colour. 



379 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE MUTE SWAN. — {Cygnm Olor.) 

The portrait of the Mute Swan is copied from one in No- 
lan^s "Treatise on the Domestic Fowl," &c. Of this monarch 
of the lake, Dixon says : — 

The Swan is, beyond all question, the bird to place, as a 
finishing stroke of art, on the smooth lake which expands be- 
fore our mansions. It is perfectly needless, however delightful, 
to quote Milton and others, lauding the arched neck, the white 
wings, the oary feet, and so on. Its superb beauty is undeniable 
and acknowledged ; and, to borrow an apt metaphor, we do not 
wish, in the present volume, to thresh straw that has been 
thrice threshed before, to repeat how lovely the Swan is on the 
silver lake, "floating double, swan and shadow;" for we 
might thus run, scissors in hand, through the whole Corpus 
Poetarum. Our object, in short, is simply to point out the 
best mode of managing them and keeping them. 

Any one who lives on the banks of a moderately sized 
stream, and has a Swan-right on that stream, will probably 
also have the means of keeping a keeper, who will save him 
every trouble. But there are a great many people, occupiers 
of large farm-houses, villas, country mansions, or moated resi- 
dences, persons, perhaps, of considerable wealth, who have no 
manorial rights, no ancient Swan-mark belonging to their 



380 THE MUTE SWAN. 

estate, but who would willingly pay for the maintenance of a 
pair of Swans and their annual brood of Cygnets, on enclosed 
or artificial waters, if they knew but how to order them 
aright. 

Imprimis, then, they are called " Tame Swans," " Domestic 
Swans :'* never were epithets more inappropriate, unless we 
agree to say, " tame Hyaena, tame Wolf, tame Eat, domestic 
Pheasant, domestic Swallow." They will come to their 
keeper's call, and take food from his hand ; they will keep at 
home, when they are completely prevented from ranging out 
of bounds abroad : so far they are tamed and domesticated, 
but no further, and never will be. To compare the relations 
which exist between them and man, with those by which we 
retain the Groose and the common Fowl, is about as correct as 
to believe that the same temper and disposition influence the 
faithful Dog and the wildest Jackal of the wilderness. I put 
the case thus strongly, in order that it may be understood 
clearly. The comparisons may be a little exaggerated, but 
they will serve to raise the real truth into bolder and higher 
relief. Many systematic naturalists, of deserved reputation, 
have not been aware of the fact. Professor Low, speaking of 
the effects of domestication on birds, says — " The Swan, the 
noblest of all water Fowls, becomes chained, as it were, to our 
lakes and ponds, by the mere change of his natural form." — 
Domesticated Animals of the British Islands. Introduction ^ 
p. liv. Chained, indeed ! I should like the learned Professor 
to see a pair of unmutilated Swans cleaving the air with ex- 
tended pinions. He evidently takes the Swan to be a do- 
mesticated bird, and that it will not fly away, instead of that 
it cannot. Listen to this : — "I have never kept Swans myself; 
but those of some relatives a few miles off, sometimes pay us 
a visit, performing their flight in an incredibly short time." 
— H. H. "Waterton, who speaks only so far as he has seen, in 
his vivid essays gives a similar account of the proceedings of a 



THE MUTE SWAN. 381 

Swan, whom he indulged in the free use of his wings, for the 
gratification of observing his graceful evolutions in the air.* 
But, at present, the discovery, and introduction, and disper- 
sion of a species of Swan, that would be really tame, and stay 
at home without being tied by the wing, as prolific, and 
having a valuable plumage and flesh as the common sort, 
would be one of the most valuable boons which the great 
London societies could now offer to the proprietors of limited 
portions of fluvial and lacustrine waters. 

The following extract may give a valuable hint ; unfortu- 
nately,, it does not state whether the pinioning knife had been 
used. " At the residence of the governor of the province at 
Calix, I saw three Swans, which, having been taken when 
young, were as tame as Domestic Geese, to which these birds 
are so much alike in every respect, that I can have no doubt 
of their belonging to one genus. Their bill is flat and black 
at the extremity, as well as on the margins, convex and some- 
what angular in the middle, so far at least that the swelling 
part terminates in an angle. The middle is fleshy where the 
oblong nostrils are situated ; the base, flat or quadrangular, 
with two sinuses pointing upwards, and pale-coloured. The 
margin is toothed, just like the Concha Veneris (Cypraea.)" — 
Linnaeus' s Tour in Lajpland, vol. ii. Mr. Yarrell, who, of all 
naturalists, is perhaps best acquainted with the nice distinc- 
tions that separate the various species of Swans, seems to refer 
the above account to the Hooper or Whistling Swan. 

A service might thus be rendered to economical ornithology, 

* "Its powers of flight were truly astonishing. It visited all the 
sheets of water for many miles around. On taking its excursions 
into the world at large, I would often say to it, in a kindly tone of 
voice, as it flew over my head, ' Qui amat periculum, peribit in illo ;' 
as I too clearly foresaw that foes would lie in ambush for it."— 
Essays^ 2d Series, p. 122. 



382 THE MUTE SWAN. 

by fairly trying the Hooper, of whose tameability Linnaeus 
speaks so highly ; it is less graceful, however, bearing more 
resemblance in its attitudes and carriage to the Canada Goose. 
There is also the Polish Swan, that produces white Cygnets ; 
and Bewick's Swan, if to be procured alive, might originate 
a stock of great value for limited pieces of water, since it 
averages in size one-third less than the Cygnus Olor. None 
of the species can be less domestic than the Mute Swan, if it 
would really open its heart to us; but, being a "game'^ bird, 
of great pluck, it carries off matters with a high hand, and 
temporarily conceals its hatred of the trammels in which it is 
compelled to live ; the very webs of its feet being sometimes 
slit, to retard it in its unkind chase after other Water Fowl. 
It does not shrink from the severest weather which we experi- 
ence, but faces the pelting storm, as if anchored, in the most 
exposed parts of the lake. For those to whom the amount of 
purchase-money is of little importance, there is the Black 
Swan, a creature of much gentler manners, less in size, less 
tyrannical to other birds, and indeed altogether taking in its 
ways. It is strange that their price should still continue so 
high, as they breed in this country, frequently, though not 
abundantly, under circumstances that must be considered un- 
favourable. I suspect, from the localities in Australia where 
they were originally found, that they would thrive all the 
better for an occasional marine diet, and like the Sheldrake, 
enjoy now and then a treat of cockles and shrimps, with per- 
haps a barrowful of sea-weed as the joint on which to cut 
and come again. 

Those who wish to make themselves acquainted with the 
habits and dispositions, as well as the mere figures and de- 
scriptions of animals, should be informed that all living crea- 
tures cannot be divided into two distinct ranks of Wild and 
Tame, as, for example, the Horse and the Zebra among 
quadrupeds, and the Blue Eock Pigeon and the Ringdove 



THE MUTE SWAN. 38S 

among birds, just as they would separate the red and the 
white men on a chess-board, but that there is a most perplex- 
ing intermediate multitude, neither wild nor yet tameable, but 
usually spoken of as "familiar" or "half domesticated,'^ a 
term without meaning — dodging, like camp-followers, on the 
offskirts of human society, but determined never to enlist in 
the drilled and disciplined ranks, playing the game of " off and 
on," but always ending with the " off." Such are, among 
many others, the Partridge, Rats and Mice, the House Spar- 
row, the Water Hen, and, at a still greater distance, I believe 
and fear, the whole genus of Swans proper. 

Is there nothing resembling this amongst the human race ? 
The mention of the word " G-ipsy'^ will set thought-capable 
persons a-thinking. "Oh ! but they have been neglected, 
uneducated, ill-cared for ! Educate ! Educate !" say well-in- 
tentioned persons, who seem to declare that the soul of man is 
a ca7-te hlanchej and who would thereby, unthinkingly, deny 
the doctrine of Original Sin, as asserted by the Church of 
England. But I have seen enough, both of bird and mankind, 
to know that the heart of neither is a carte hlanche — you 
cannot write, on either, whatever may be your pleasure there 
to inscribe. Your duty, in both cases, is to take them as you 
find them, and make the best you can of them for their in- 
terest, which will be found eventually to coincide with your 
own. 

Swans, then, are ferse naturse to all intents and purposes : 
of that there is no doubt, whatever the law of the matter may 
be : but, although capricious birds, wild in their very nature, 
like most living creatures they have some attachment to place. 
The first point, therefore, is to settle them agreeably in their 
destined home. Old birds are less likely to be contented with 
a new abode, unless very distant from their former one, and 
are seldom to be obtained in the market. Cygnets may be 
procured every autumn ; if they have been put up to fat for 



3§i THE MUTE SWAN 

some time, so much the better, as they will the sooner becouxe 
tame, and contented with a small range — which I am sup- 
posing to be the thing required. The disadvantage of having 
Cygnets to begin swan-keeping with, is, that they are less 
ornamental till they have attained their perfect plumage, and 
the proper orange-colour of the bill, and that they do not 
breed till their third year. It is not, however generally 
known that the male is capable of increasing his kind a year 
earlier than the female ; so that a brood may be obtained 
from an old Hen, and a Cock-bird in his second year. In se- 
lecting a pair, the great thing is to make sure of having two 
birds of opposite sexes. Two Cock-birds will not live together, 
and their mutual aversion would soon show that all was not 
right ; but two Hens will — which is the case also with Pigeons. 
A friend of mine procured a couple of Swans; they were 
affectionate and happy in each other's society : in due time 
they made their nest and laid. Great were the expectations; 
such a plenty of Eggs; both Swans assiduous in sitting-— rather 
suspicious that — the produce, addle-eggs. The two ladies 
could not raise up a family between them. 

In selecting any Water-birds whose plumage is alike in both 
sexes, and which cannot therefore be distinguished with cer- 
tainty, the best rule is to see them in the water, and take that 
which swims deepest for the female, and that which floats with 
greatest buoyancy for the male, remembering that all creatures 
of the masculine gender have the largest lungs in proportion 
to their size. The neck of the Cock-bird is usually thicker. 
An experienced eye will, besides, detect a certain feminine 
gentleness and modesty in the one, and an alacrity and bold- 
ness in the other, which is a tolerably safe guide, as well as an 
appropriate and becoming attribute to the creatures themselves. 
It is cheaper in the end to give a fair price for a pair of old, 
well-seasoned birds to begin with, than to undergo the care, 
the delay, and perhaps the disappointment of nursing Cygnets 



THE MUTE SWAN. 385 

through their youth of three long years^ duration. Bright- 
ness and clearness of the orange on the bill, and full develop- 
ment of the knob or "berry," indicate the complete maturity 
of the bird. Supposing, however, the reader to have obtained 
two Cygnets that are not mere friends, but actually husband 
and wife, he will recollect that those reserved for fatting are 
never pinioned, lest it should check their progress ; and he will 
request the operation to be performed before he has them 
home, in order that they may have the fewest possible disa- 
greeable reminiscences connected with the spot where they 
are to spend their lives. There are two ways of pinioning 
birds ; at the elbow joint, and at the wrist. The amputation 
of the part of the wing which corresponds to our hand is quite 
sufficient to prevent the flight of the short-winged species, as 
far as migration is concerned, disfigures them less than the 
closer pruning, and still leaves them the means of escape from 
a dog or a poacher, allows them now and then in their gam- 
bols to fancy they are free, and to enjoy a sort of half-run, 
half-fly, from the lawn into the water. Kindness, comfort, 
and good feeding must be employed to keep them at home aa 
far as possible; but the loss of the last joint only of the wing 
will not be enough to prevent Swans from joining any travel- 
ling companions who are on the way to the Artie circle. I 
should recommend the female to be pinioned at the wrist, the 
male at the elbow, trusting to their mutual attachment to keep 
the less-maimed bird from deserting her mate. But however 
it be done, let it be set about in a workmanlike manner; no 
chopping nor hacking, nor hewing, nor butchering. Many 
Cygnets are annually killed by the clumsy way in which their 
wing is lopped off. They suffer from the shock to their nerv- 
ous system as much as from haemorrhage. 

A skilful operator will feel for the joint, divide the skin, 
and turn the bone neatly out of the socket. I will allow him 

33 



886 THE MUTE SWAN, 

to shed just one drop of blood — no more. I would be as bard 
upon him as Portia was upon tbe flesb-cutting Jew : 

" This bond doth give here no jot of blood ; 
The words expressly are a limb of swan ; 
Take then thy bond, take thou thy limb of swan ; 
But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed 
One drop of cygnine blood, thy clumsiness 
Shall brand the name of « Bungler' on thy back. 
Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the limb ; 
Shed thou no blood ; nor cut thou less nor more, 
But just the very limb ; if thou tak'st more 
Or less than just the limb, thou shalt bewail 
The consequence." 

If any brook runs into and from tbe pond wbere tbey are 
to remain, tbeir escape tbrougb that cbannel must be pre- 
vented by sbeep-netting, hurdles, pales, or other fencing, 
which should be continued some distance inland, lest they 
should walk away, if they cannot swim away. This pre- 
caution will be found particularly necessary if there is any 
main stream in the immediate neighbourhood. A feeding- 
trough may be fixed for them in the pond, in the part where 
it is most desirable that they should be accustomed to display 
themselves. Those who are fastidious about the sight of such 
an object, or who wish to have it thought that the Swans keep 
so much in view from purely disinterested motives, (from simple 
affection to their masters, not from the greedy love of corn,) 
may contrive to have it hid beneath a bank, or behind a tree 
or shrub. The trough must be fixed in the pond, on two firm 
posts, within arm's length of the shore, raised high enough 
from the water to prevent Ducks from stealing the food con- 
tained therein, having a cover which lifts up by hinges, and 
so forms a lid, to keep out Kats and Sparrows, and open only 
in front. Many persons, however, feed their Swans by simply 
throwing the corn into shallow water. They will skim the 



THE MUTE SWAN. 887 

surface for the light grains which float, and then submerge 
their heads in search of that which has sunk. Should any 
Carp (that fresh-water Fox) be occupants of the same lake, it 
will be found that they soon learn the accustomed hours of 
feeding, and will come to take their share along with their 
feathered friends. But it is cruel to locate a pair of Swans, 
for the sake of their beauty, in a new-made piece of water, 
whose banks and bottom are as barren and bare as the inside 
of a hand-basin. A load or two of water-weeds should have 
been thrown in, the previous spring, to propagate themselves 
and afford pasturage. Sometimes, after an old-established 
sheet has been cleansed at a great expense, it is thought that 
Swans would now look well there, and they are forthwith 
turned in, to be starved ; whereas they would thankfully have 
undertaken the cleansing task for nothing. Swan-food exists 
in proportion to the shallowness and foulness, not to the extent 
and clearness of the water. A yard of margin is worth a mile 
of deep stream ; one muddy Norfolk broad, with its oozy banks, 
labyrinthine creeks, and its forests of rushes, reeds, and sedges, 
is better, in this respect, than all "the blue rushing of the 
arrowy Rhone," or the whole azure expanse of the brilliant 
Lake of Geneva. 

In confined waters. Swans require a liberal supply of food 
in the autumn, when the weeds run short. It should be re- 
membered that at this season they have to supply themselves 
with a new suit of clothes, as well as to maintain their daily 
strength. If they have not been taught to eat corn, and have 
not acquired a notion of grazing, they will perish from starva- 
tion as undoubtedly as a canary-bird neglected in its cage. 
Young birds are apt to be fanciful or stupid, and have not 
sense enough to come on the bank and eat grass, or pick up 
the threshed corn that may be thrown down to them. Some- 
times they may be tempted with a lock of unthreshed barley 
or oats, thrown, straw and all, into the water, which they will 



8^8 THE MUTE SWAN. 

instinetivelj lay hold of and devour. Cygnets wliicli have 
been previously put up to fatten, will give little or no trouble 
in this respect, besides the advantage of being accustomed to 
the near approach of a keeper. 

In one week I lost two Swans, a Cygnet, and a year-old 
bird, from the consequences, I fear, of a few days' short diet 
at moulting time. Suspecting foul play from some ill-natured 
person, I caused a post mortem examination to be made of 
that which died last; but, in a literal sense, nothing could be 
found. The poor thing was empty and emaciated, though it 
had been fed with corn two or three days before, and though 
it had only to ascend a bank a foot high to enjoy a plentiful 
feast of good grass. It had been seen sailing about, in apparent 
health and spirits, the previous evening, and my mind is not 
yet quite satisfied about the subject. The following remarks 
may perhaps afford some clue in similar cases. 

"Swans wandering by night, in search of watercresses 
chiefly, are always in danger from the different vermin which 
prey upon poultry and game — ^weasels, stoats, polecats, &c. 
And Swans thus destroyed exhibit no wounds or marks upon 
the body; but upon the head and neck, where, on a minute 
inspection, the wounds are discovered through which the 
vermin have sucked the life-blood, leaving the bulk so little 
affected that the feathers are unruffled. The wounds appear 
scarcely the size of a pin's head, but are generally above half 
an inch deep. Geese and Turkeys are also liable to be de- 
stroyed by these nocturnal marauders, which, like all beasts 
of prey, sleep throughout the day." — Mouhray on Poultry, 
8th edition, p. 128. 

One would doubt the fact of so large a bird as the Swan 
falling a victim to a wretched little weasel. But a relation 
of mine had a pair of Canada Geese, birds little inferior in 
size to the Swan, which in the breeding season were suffered 
to shift their quarters from the farm-yard, their usual abode, 



THE MUTE SWAN. 389 

to a neighbouring broad, where he had rights. After a time 
one bird returned home alone, and its missing mate was at 
length discovered, half-decomposed, on a sedgy islet in the 
broad, in such a position as to indicate that it had been sur- 
prised and killed by one of the larger weasels, a stoat, or a 
polecat. 

Considerable difference of opinion has been entertained re- 
specting the diet of the Swan; some supposing it to be ex- 
clusively vegetable, others believing that fish enter largely 
into it. My own observations tend to prove that a very con- 
siderable part of their nutriment is obtained from minute 
insects and molluscs. The sluggish, weedy waters, where 
Swans thrive best, abound with such creatures; and the Whale 
is a sufficient example that the size of the prey is no index to 
the magnitude of the creatures that subsist on it. Swans fall 
off in condition very rapidly in autumn, however liberally they 
are supplied with corn, immediately that the temperature 
drops to any extent, and the minor inhabitants of the pools 
disappear into their winter retreats. A very small fish might 
now and then not come amiss to them, and spawn would be 
greedily devoured. A Swan must be considerably more de- 
structive in this respect than the poor little Water Ouzel, 
which is so bitterl}'- persecuted along the salmon-streams of 
Scotland, for the alleged injury it does to the ova of the fish. 
The seeds of grasses, and the soft starchy parts of aquatic 
plants, are no doubt a considerable portion of the daily ration 
of the Swan. It seems to prefer sloppy, half-decayed vegeta- 
tion, to that which is fresh and crisp. Spare garden-stuff, 
spinach, and such like, thrown out for them, is liked all the 
better for having lain soaking at least twenty-four hours, that 
is, in such time as it has become sodden and attacked by small 
fresh-water shell-fish. If their mode of feeding is watched, it 
will be found to countenance the popular belief that many 
birds live " by suction ;'^ they appear to suck down the pappy 



890 THE MUTE SWAN. 

food^ which pleases them best, rather than fairly to crop and 
swallow it. 

Consequently, there is no bird in the least comparable to 
the Swan as an agent for clearing a pond of weeds. It does 
not, however, eat all weeds indiscriminately ; it seems scarcely 
to touch the water-lilies, white and yellow, except perhaps in 
a very young state, though it no doubt checks their increase 
by seed. These, when too numerous, may be uprooted by 
means of a long pole armed with an iron claw, and used either 
from the shore or from a boat; once detached from their 
moorings, they may be floated away. Swans seem to prefer, 
first, what we call the lower forms of vegetation, the Con- 
fervas and the Characese, then the Callitricha aquatica, or 
Water Starwort, and the long list of Potamogetons, or Pond- 
weeds : the rhizomata of all sorts of reeds, rushes, arrow-heads, 
&c., are greedily torn up and devoured. A lake of half an 
acre in extent is. quite large enough (with the assistance of 
corn, refuse vegetables, and grass-clippings, when the weeds 
run short) not only to maintain a pair of Swans, but to supply 
an acceptable lot of fat Cygnets every autumn. Swans have 
been kept successfully in a much more limited space. But in 
one instance within my own knowledge, where the extent of 
water is not a quarter of an acre, the annual brood, as soon as 
they entered the pond in company with their parents, were 
devoured by some enormous pet Pike that equally shared their 
owner's favour — a hint that one cannot breed Swans and fresh- 
water sharks at the same time and place. 

The Swan, consuming the submerged refuse of plants, is 
thus the scavenger of the waters, as the Hyaena and the 
Vulture are of the land. In such countries as Holland, and 
still more about the deltas of large rivers in the south of Europe 
and western Asia, their influence must be very beneficial. In- 
deed, we are compelled to believe that they have been bounti- 
fully created to fulfil this office of cleansing the half-stagnant 



THE MUTE SWAN. 391 

water-courses. Unlike the old dragons that could exhale a 
pestilence and infect a whole district with their breath, these 
winged tenants of the marsh swallow many a plague and fever 
up. Not a little miasma has travelled harmlessly down the 
throats of Swans. They can fatten on poisons, although igno- 
rant of King Mithridates or his antidote. 

A curious instance of the animal diet of the Swan once 
occurred to myself. The common brown shrimp, it is well 
known, inhabits, and thrives in waters less strongly im- 
pregnated with salt than the open sea, which is not the case 
with several other species: and I was desirous of trying 
whether it were possible to stock with them a piece of water 
absolutely fresh. A quantity were procured and brought 
home in a fish-kettle of tidal river-water ; but the heat of the 
weather at the time was much against the success of the ex- 
periment. On arriving at their journey's end, the great ma- 
jority were dead. They were all, however, turned out together : 
a few swam off apparently unaffected by the unwonted element, 
and were never seen or heard of afterwards; the rest sank to 
the bottom ; when one of my Swans, expecting her feed of 
cord, sailed up, and began feasting on the dead shrimps, crush- 
ing them in her bill before she swallowed them, and appearing 
much to relish her meal. 

The difficulty there sometimes is in getting Swans to eat 
corn, or to graze like Geese, shows that either diet is with them 
an acquired taste. 

At the proper age and season they will show a disposition to 
'breed, if well fed, although restricted within comparatively 
narrow limits. As soon as they have decidedly fixed upon the 
spot for their nest, it will be an assistance to take them two 
or three barrowfuls of coarse litter. Sedges and rushes are the 
best, with perhaps a few sticks, which they can arrange at their 
own pleasure. The number of Eggs laid will vary from five 
or six to ten, but the number of Cygnets hatched seems, like 



392 THE MUTE SWAN, 

the fall of lambs, to depend much upon the season and the 
weather of the few preceding months. One year the three 
pairs of Swans nearest to me had each a brood of nine — 
twenty-seven Cygnets in only three families. But this is 
above the average. I have, however, seen seven reared on a 
very small moat. It is better not to gratify any unnecessary 
curiosity respecting the Eggs; indeed the parent birds will 
hardly allow it. The Cock makes great show, and often more 
than show of fight against interlopers. A blow from his 
pinion on land is better avoided ; and in the water he would 
bother the strongest smimmer to escape from his fury. I was 
once attacked by a Swan, when walking too intrusively near 
his lady's lying-in bed ; he was keeping guard, by sailing in 
short tacks backwards and forwards before her, but he left the 
water to give me a forcible hint to go about my own business. 
The only thing was to meet the threatened danger ; so, seizing 
his neck in one hand and his outstretched wing in the other, I 
tossed him as far into the middle of the stream as I could. He 
seemed a little astonished for a few moments, but, lashing the 
waters into foam, he would have renewed the attack, had I not 
speedily withdrawn from his dominions. Coming to close 
quarters with them is the surest mode of defence. The blow 
of a Swan's wing, to take effect, must hit from a certain dis- 
tance. It is clear they are mischievously minded at such times ; 
but I think that the real danger to be apprehended has, from 
policy, been exaggerated, that it may act as a sort of guardian 
dragon to the tempting fruit of the Hesperides. There are 
possibly persons living who would not be unwilling to have it « 
believed that Hares and Pheasants are most formidable 
creatures to encounter, especially on moonlight nights. 

The Cygnets, when first hatched, are of a slaty gray, in- 
clining to mouse-colour. The time of incubation is six weeks, 
or thereabouts. A common notion in Norfolk is, that the 
Cygnets cannot be hatched till a thunder-storm comes to break 



THE MUTE SWAN. 393 

the shells, and that the Hen will go on sitting till the birth of 
her young ones is complimented with that portentous salute. 
A Swan might boast, with Owen Grlendower — 

'* At my nativity 
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, 
Of burning cressets ; know, that at my birth 
The frame and the foundations of the earth 
Shook like a coward." 

Let us not reply in the contemptuous language of Hotspur, 
nor altogether reject the popular idea ; the close sultry weather 
which sometimes for two or three days precedes a tempest, 
would hasten the development of Chicks that were nearly ar- 
rived at the hatching point. What effect electrical oscillations 
have on animal life we as yet know not, but our own feelings 
tell us they have some. 

The happy parents will charge themselves with the entire 
maintenance of their tender young, if they have but the range 
of a large extent of river banks and shallow water ; will lead 
them up the quiet ditches, point out the juicy blade, the float- 
ing seed, the struggling insect, the sinuous worm ; will then 
steer to shoals left by some circling eddy, and, stirring up the 
soft sediment with their broad feet, show that minute but nu- 
tritious particles may thence be extracted. As hunger is 
satisfied and weariness comes on, the mother will sink in the 
stream till her back becomes an easy landing-place, and the 
nurslings are thus transferred, in a secure and downy cradle, to 
fresh feeding-places. 

But in a restricted beat they must not be left altogether to 
themselves. A glently sloping bank will enable them to repair 
at pleasure to the grassy margin. The old ones must have 
plenty of corn, which they will by-and-by teach their young 
to eat; tender vegetables from the kitchen-garden, such as 
endive, lettuce, or cress, will help to sustain them, besides 
attracting those soft-bodied water-creatures that are of all food 



394 THE MUTE SWAN. 

the most needful. Pollard frequently scattered on the surface 
of the pond will be of material assistance ; and whatever it is 
found that they will eat, let them have in the greatest 
abundance. Their growth is rapid ; their weight should De 
considerable, with but little time to acquire it in. The period 
cannot be extended much longer than from June to the end 
of November. By Christmas they must all either be eaten, 
or have emigrated, when the parents will begin to direct their 
thoughts forward to a succeeding family. Confined Swans 
sometimes get a sort of quid of mud, fibres, and gravel, under 
their chins, which it is as well now and then to examine and 
clean out. 

A fat Cygnet is a capital dish, and deserves a higher repute 
than it generally obtains. Its stately appearance on the table 
is alone worth something. Those who have only a good-sized 
pond — say from a quarter to half an acre of water — may rear 
and fat an annual brood. In so small a space, the old birds 
must of course share with their young the extra supply of fat- 
ting corn ; but they will get through the winter the better for 
it, and be more prolific in the spring. Neither they nor their 
Cygnets should at any time be allowed to become poor. 

When Cygnets are removed from their parents, to be fatted 
in a regular Swan-pond, it is usual to separate them at the end 
of August or the beginning of September. At first, grass is 
thrown into the water to them twice a day, with their other 
food; but this is not continued for more than a fortnight. A 
comb of barley is the established allowance to fat each Swan. 
The corn is put into shallow tubs, set just under water. The 
birds are considered worth from 10s. to 12s. each when they 
are "hopped'' or "upped" from their native streams; but 
when brought into prime condition, 2?., formerly 2?. 2s. They 
may occasionally be had for less, in which case they make a 
cheap as well as a handsome dish to set before a large dinner 
party. Their weight in the feathers varies from 25 lbs. to 
28 lbs. and sometimes, though rarely, 30 lbs. They are never 



THE MUTE SWAN. 395 

better than in the month of November, when the gastro- 
nomical enquirer, who is yet unacquainted with their merits, 
is recommended to give them a fair and impartial trial. They 
may be had till Christmas, after which they are good for 
nothing. A bird weighing 28 lbs. before Christmas, has been 
known to shrink to 17 or 18 lbs. by the end of January, in 
spite of high feeding. Therefore, make hay while the sun 
shines, Mr. Epicure. As, in the spring, the snow-drop gives 
way to the primrose and the violet, so, in autumn, the Swan 
yields its place on the board to the Turkey and the Guinea 
Fowl. If to-day is lost, to-morrow the opportunity will have 
flown, in higher concerns than mere eating and drinking. Now 
— or, perhaps, never. 

The Swan-feasts that seem to have left the most pleasing 
impressions on the palates of the partakers have been solem- 
nized as early as the month of September. As to the mode 
of dressing, those artists who are skilled in the treatment of 
venison will easily cook Swan, viz., with a meal crust over it, 
to keep the gravy in. Instead of stuffing it with sage and 
onions, like a G-oose, (vulgar condiments to vulgar birds,) use 
rump-steak chopped fine, and seasoned with cayenne and salt. 
When browned, and served to an admiring circle, let it have 
rich gravy and currant-jelly, the latter hot as well as cold, in 
respectful attendance. — And is that all? No, the best re- 
mains behind. The hash next day is worth riding twenty 
miles to eat. Nay, more ; the giblets make soup before which 
ox-tail sinks into insignificance. The mere writing about it 
has made me hungry. Mr. Yarrell gives some information on 
the subject, which I will not wrong him by pirating. See 
'^ British Birds,'' vol. iii. p. 127. He has also collected a 
curious list of swan-marks.* 

*One of my correspondents in South Carolina, Hugh Wilson, Esq., 
informs me that, in the winter season, Swans are quite numerous in 
that region, and are frequently taken alive. — Ed. 



396 



CHAPTER XXVL 

THEWILDGOOSE. 

This Bird is called by European writers, tlie Canada G-oose. 
It is capable of domestication, and, as a Wild Bird, breeds in 
the Arctic regions, going south on the approach of winter ; its 
migrations north, are the sure sign of returning spring. Over 
all the Atlantic States, at least, the inhabitants are quite fa- 
miliar with its passing and repassing. 

It is said, with what truth I know not, that, though the 
Wild Groose will breed with the Domestic, yet the half-breds 
will not breed with each other, 

Mr. Dixon is under the impression, that what he calls the 
Canada, (the same as our Wild Goose,) the Bernicle, and the 
Brent Goose, are all occasionally mistaken for each other. 
This he attributes to what he calls, and justly too, the compil- 
ing system of Zoological literature; for he says, that the 
history of the Anser Canadensis, in a state of nature, and in 
captivity, has been so well and so fully written by the ablest 
ornithologists, both of England and America, that for me to 
attempt giving complete details, would be either to restate the 
same facts in less appropriate language, or to commit a whole- 
sale plunder of compilation upon the stores of preceding au- 
thors. But, although unwilling to be guilty of this kind of 
pillage, I must necessarily make some reference to the labours 




CANADA OH WILD GOOSE. 



THE WILD GOOSE. 397 

of others. The bird is far too important, in every respect, to 
be entirely omitted in the present series ; and there are a few 
points respecting it, which ought to be brought into more pro- 
minent notice. Our Poultry books mostly call it a variety of 
the Common Goose. But it is no more a variety of Groose 
than the Swan is a variety of Groose. Cuvier seems to doubt 
whether it is a Gi;.oose at all, and says that it cannot be properly 
separated from the true Swans. Audubon kept some three 
years, and, though the old birds refused to breed in confine- 
ment, their young, which he had captured together with them, 
did. He states their period of incubation to be twenty-eight 
days, which is a shorter time than one would have imagined. 
That circumstance alone, if correct, marks a wide distinction ; 
and every statement of his, which I have had the opportunity 
of testing, has proved accurate. I suspect that at a future 
time, our scientific naturalists will deem it advisable to insti- 
tute several new genera, for the reception of various water- 
fowl that are now huddled into one or two; particularly if 
they allow the diet and habits of the birds, as well as their ex- 
ternal form, to influence the rules of classification. 

Canada Geese eat worms and soft insects, as well as grass 
and aquatic plants, which the typical Geese never do ; with us 
they do not breed till they are at least two years old, and so 
far approach the Swan. Like the Swan, also, the male appears 
to be fit for reproduction earlier than the female. But Audu- 
bon says, ^' That this tardiness is not the case in the wild state, 
I feel pretty confident, for I have observed having broods of 
their own, many individuals, which, by their size, the dullness 
of their plumage, and such other marks as are known to the 
practised ornithologist, I judged to be not more than fifteen 
or sixteen months old. I have therefore thought, that in this, 
as in many other species, a long series of years is necessary for 
counteracting the original wild and free nature which has been 
given them ; and, indeed, it seems probable that our attempts 



398 THE WILD aoosE. 

to domesticate many species of wild fowls, which would prove 
useful to mankind, have often been abandoned in despair, when 
a few years more of constant care might have produced the 
desired effect/' The Canada Goose, in spite of its original 
migratory habits, which it appears in almost every case to 
forget in England, shows much more disposition for true do- 
mestication than the Swan, and may be maintained in perfect 
health with very limited opportunities of bathing. 

The manner in which these birds are usually kept here, is 
neither consistent with their natural habits, nor calculated to 
develop their usefulness and merit. They are mostly retained 
as ornaments to large parks, where there is an extensive range 
of grass and water : so far, all is as it should be. But they 
are there generally associated with other species of Geese and 
water fowl, all being of a sociable disposition, and forming 
one heterogeneous flock. In the breeding season, they neither 
can agree among themselves to differ seriously, nor yet to live 
together in peace ', the consequence is, that they interrupt each 
other's love-making, keep up a constant bickering, without 
coming to the decisive quarrels and battles that would set all 
right; and in the end we have birds without mates, Eggs unferti- 
lized, and now and then a few monstrous hybrids, which, how- 
ever some curious persons may prize them, are as ugly as they 
are unnatural, and by no means recompense by their rarity for 
the absence of two or three broods of healthy legitimate gos- 
lings. Many writers, Audubon among others, from whom 
one would have expected a more healthy taste, speaks highly 
of the half-bred Canada Goose. They are very large, it is 
true, and may merit approbation on the table ; but with what- 
ever other species the cross is made, they are hideously dis- 
pleasing. An old-fashioned plan of sweeping chimneys was 
to tie the legs of a Goose, pull her up and down by a string, 
and let her dislodge the soot by the flapping of her wings. 
This sounds cruel, and is not humane. But is it more barba- 



THE WILD GOOSE. 399 

rous to send a Goose down a chimney, than a child up it ? 
This by the way : but all half-bred Canada Greese, that I have 
seen, look as if they had kindly undertaken to act as substi- 
tute for the poor little climbing boy or girl. 

Not only are they suffered thus to herd with other varie- 
ties, but the broods of successive years are allowed to remain, 
and annoy, and encroach upon the privileges of their parents, 
(which would be made all square by their natural migrations,) 
till the park gets evidently overstocked to the most unprac- 
tised eye — it has really been so long before — and then a 
few surplus individuals are disposed of, mostly at an age and 
season when they are good for little except their feathers, if 
for them. This mode of mismanagement accounts for the low 
esteem in which the flesh of the Canada Groose is held in Eng- 
land. I never met with any one who had tasted it here, that 
did not pronounce it detestable ; though a gentleman who had 
lived on it for weeks in Canada, still remembered it with 
relish. In one instance within my own knowledge, the extra 
stock were given to the poor, who could not or would not eat 
them. But it is impossible that the thousands of people who 
eagerly destroy the bird in its passage to and fro, can be mis- 
taken in the opinion they have for years held of its value as 
an article of diet. Audubon gives the clue to our error ; he 
says, " the goslings bred in the inland districts, and procured 
in September, in my opinion far surpass the renowned Can- 
vas-back Duck" — the most famous tit-bit that America pro- 
duces. He adds, " every portion of it is useful to Man ; for be- 
sides the value of the flesh as an article of food, the feathers, 
the quills, and the fat are held in request. The Eggs also 
afford very good eating." 

Instead of this slovenly mode of breeding and feeding, 
which no one would think of adopting with the most ordinary 
Goose that ever grazed upon a common, I would, not unad- 
visedly, recommend every flock of Canada Geese to be in No- 



400 THE WILD GOOSE. 

vember immediately reduced to two, (in order to guard against 
accident to one,) or, at the most, three pairs, in the very 
largest park, and greatest extent of water, possessed by our no- 
bility. Such pairs should be retained, as differ as much in age, 
as may be consistent with their breeding powers ; and also, if 
possible, those should be selected which have been observed to 
entertain a mutual dislike, in order that they may fix their 
nests at a distance from each other. They should previously 
have become attached to their keeper, though not to their co- 
mates, that they may suffer him to approach and feed them 
and their Goslings liberally, and so bring them into thoroughly 
good condition by killing-time. 

The stock-birds ought to be well supplied with corn during 
winter when the grass grows little or not at all, to promote 
early laying; but they usually have just half a dozen kernels 
of barley thrown down to them now and then. No one can 
blame them, if they occasionally stray out of bounds in search 
of food ; but they are then accused of restlessness, shyness, 
and so on. They have been literally starved out. It is no 
migratory impulse that sets them on the move, but over- 
crowding and under-feeding; in proof of which, they will 
generally return of their own accord. I am speaking of birds 
that have been bred in captivity for several generations. 
Give them room and food enough, and they will stay con- 
tentedly at home. Curtail their supplies, and they become 
like "darkness" in Spofforth's well-known glee; "flies away'' 
is ever and again the burden of their song. The Canada 
Goose is a very large bird, and cannot be expected to live and 
get fat upon air. If a farmer's wife were to treat her Turkeys 
as the Canada Goslings are usually served, they would at 
Christmas be just as tough and stringy, and uneatable, if in- 
deed they survived the pinching regimen so long. Many 
people in the country make the same difference in their treat- 
men*^ of their ornamental Fowls and their ordinary stock, that 



THE WILD GOOSE. 401 

they do between their garden and their farm. The garden 
goes without a spadeful of manure from one end of a seven 
years' lease to another ; the turnip-field is glutted with guano 
and all sorts of good things. And so, exotic birds, procured 
at considerable expense, or received as highly valued presents 
from friends, are turned out in a grassy wilderness, to shift 
for themselves as best they may, while the Turkeys and Gos- 
lings are taken as much care of as their master's children. To 
a late inquiry after the fate of a pair sent to a distance, I got 
for answer, " One flew away, and the other the Swan killed." 
The growing Canada Geese must sensibly miss the abundance 
of their native breeding-places, when confined to these short 
commons; and it is not just in us, after such neglect and 
peouriousness on our part, to complain that they neither fat 
well nor reproduce at an early age. 

From each pair of Geese, properly looked after, between six 
and nine Goslings may fairly be calculated upon; which, 
killed in the autumn, when really plump, would be very ac- 
ceptable at home, or, as presents to unprejudiced persons. 
Managed thus, they would be little, or, according to Audubon, 
not at all inferior to a fatted Cygnet. And their picturesque 
effect, as accessaries in landscape gardening, would surely be 
greater in distinct uniformly tinted groups, moving here and 
there across the scene with a decided object, namely, the con- 
ducting of their young, than as a motley crowd of diversely- 
coloured, variously-shaped creatures, huddled together in 
unmeaning confusion. The woodland-park should be stocked 
on different principles to the aviary and the menagerie. Thus 
it is as a spot of pure white that the Swan gives such a spark- 
ling brilliancy to the picture ; and the point of deepest shade 
(an adjunct of no less importance to the painter) may be made 
more intense and effective by the judicious employment of the 
Canada Goose. 

When a pair are received from a distance, the best way of 

34* 



402 THE WILD GOOSE. 

settling them in their new abode is to confine them with hur- 
dles and netting, as near as possible to the spot where it 
is wished they should eventually make their nest. Those 
from the hands of dealers will generally be cowed or timidly 
tame; but young birds, fresh taken from their parents, or 
adult ones that have been removed from their old home to a 
new one, will sulk and be shy. For the first few hours they 
need have nothing to eat, only plenty of water to drink. 
Their keeper should show himself to them, and speak to them 
kindly, as often as his leisure will permit; when he guesses 
that they begin to fell the cravings of hunger, a small handful 
of corn may be thrown down to them, a cabbage or two, and 
half a dozen earth-worms. It is, of course, supposed that they 
have been located on the grass. It is likely that at first they 
will not eat in the presence of a stranger : they may be left 
for an hour or so, when, if they have availed themselves of 
his absence, he may give them a little more from time to time. 
Proceeding thus by kindness, familiarity, and very frequent 
visits, he will soon secure their confidence, and be able to form 
his own judgment when they may be sufi'ered to range at 
large. 

The young are active, self-helping little things. Their 
down is of a dirty gray, a colour very difficult to describe, with 
darker patches here and there, like the young of the China 
Goose. Their bill, eyes, and legs are black. They give no 
trouble in rearing. The old ones lead them to the places 
where suitable food is to be obtained. The keeper, by a 
liberal supply of corn, can bring them forward for the table 
better than by shutting them up to fat ; and before Christmas 
the parents should be alone again in their domain. They will 
continue to increase in size and beauty for some years, and should 
have been pinioned at the first or second joint of the wing, 
(reckoning from the tip,) according to the scope they are to 
be allowed, in the manner described for the Swan : the young 



THE WILD GOOSE. 403 

that are to be eaten had better remain unmutilated. I be- 
lieve that old birds, killed in the autumn, after they have 
recovered from moulting, and before they have begun to think 
about the breeding-time, would make excellent meat, if cut 
into small portions, stewed slowly five or six hours with 
savoury condiments, and made into pies the next day. " ^Tis 
the soup that makes the soldier,^^ say the French. By roast- 
ing or broiling similar "joints," we lose the large quantity of 
nutriment contained in the bones and cartilages, besides 
having to swallow tough what we might easily make tender. 
The young (as well as the old) are, in America, salted and 
boiled; they would probably please most English palates 
better if cooked and served Swan-fashion. A Committee of 
Taste having assembled on January 22, 1850, to investigate 
the edible merits of a well-conditioned Canada Goose, pro- 
nounced them to be of a high order, rivalling those of Swan, 
which must be taken as the standard of excellence, if we at all 
defer to the opinion of the Churchman entertained by Chau- 
cer's Franklin : 

"Now certainly he was a fayre prelat : 
He was not pale as a forpined gost ; 
A fat Swan loved lie best of any rost." 

Audubon's description of their manners is- most vivid, and, 
as far as I have observed, quite accurate, and not at all ex- 
aggerated. The young male has a frequent disposition to 
neglect his own mate, and give himself up to unlicensed com- 
panionship. We had one that deserted his partner, to her 
evident grief, and made most furious love to one of a flock of 
Tame Greese, separating her from the rest, not permitting any 
other water-bird to swim near her, stretching out his neck 
stiffly on a level with the water, opening his red-lined throat 
to its utmost extent, hissing, grunting, sighing, trumpeting, 
winking his bright black eyes, tossing his head madly, and 
all kinds of folly. We did not choose to permit such conduct ; 



404 THE WILD GOOSE. 

but as often as we killed and roasted the object of his affec- 
tions, he immediately selected another leman, invariably the 
"Ugliest of the surviving females. One short, squat, rough- 
feathered, ill-marked Groose, with a thick bill and a great 
gray top-knot, was his especial favourite. When the Michael- 
mas murders had extirpated the whole race he so admired, he 
returned reluctantly and coldly to his former love. The best 
remedy in such a case is to divorce them at once, and ex- 
change one out of the pair for another bird. 



405 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 

'Tis the opinion of some that our Common Coose is a mon- 
grel, as the Dunghill Fowl, made up of several varieties as the 
G-ray-leg, White-fronted, Bean, and Pink-footed Groose, to 
each of which it occasionally shows more or less affinity. As 
to the practical qualities of this Fowl, we may say, on the best 
testimony, they are very considerable. Mr. Taggart, in a re- 
cent letter to me, says, " Of all Poultry, Geese can be raised 
with the greatest ease, in the shortest time, and' at the least 
expense, provided you live in the country, or in a-village where 
grass grows in the streets and alleys. I have onlyreared them 
once, but I am certain Groslings can be brought up on grass 
alone ; though, of course, they grow much faster, if better fed. 
I fed mine well, on Indian-meal and milk, and sometimes on 
corn — this, in addition to good pasture — and see the result — 
they are of common blood, and not remarkable for size. At 
33 days old, one weighed 5 J lbs. ; at 47 days, 6 lbs. 15 oz. ; 
54 days, 8 lbs. 3 oz. ; 64 days, 8 lbs. 14 oz. ; at 93 days, Hi 
lbs., when I killed him. For Eggs, Greese are no ^ great 
shakes,^ but, to use a Crockettism, ' they're hell on a grow.' " 
On this subject Mr. Dixon says : — 

We apply the term, " Domestic'' to the Groose, using only 
" Tame" for the Duck, to signify a much closer intimacy with 
and submission to the control of Man ; and, as a further contrast, 
the domestication of the common Goose, like that of the Fowl, 



406 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 

hides itself, as we pursue it; in the remotest depths and 
obscurest mists of ancient history. We have already hinted, 
that by the Hebrews, as by many modern naturalists, it would 
probably be classed generically with the Swan, and so be in- 
cluded in their list of unclean birds. Among the Greeks and 
Romans, it seems to have been the only really domesticated 
Water Fowl ', and appears to have held exactly the same place 
in their esteem, that it still retains, after the lapse of two or 
three thousand years, in our farm-yards, and on our commons. 
Indeed, a modern writer may escape a great part of the trouble 
of composing the natural history of the Domestic Goose, if he 
will only collect the materials that are scattered among 
ancient authors. A very early notice of them occurs in Ho- 
mer. Penelope, relating her dream, says, 

*' A team of twenty geese (a snow-white train !) 
Fed near the limpid lake with golden grain, 
Amuse my pensive hours." 

Pope^s version is both flat and inaccurate. The ^^snow- 
white train," (I would bet Mr. Pope a dish of tey — as he 
rhymes it — that Penelope's Geese were not snow-white, what- 
ever the Ganders might be,) the " limpid lake,'' the " pensive 
hours," are not Homeric, but Popeian. The literal translation 
of the Greek is, "I have twenty Geese at home, that eat wheat 
out of water, and I am delighted to look at them." We omit 
the rest of her vision, as little to our purpose; but her mode 
of fatting them, and her complacent chuckle at seeing them 
thrive, could not be surpassed by the most enthusiastic mem- 
bers of the Royal Agricultural Society. If she entertained 
her numerous suitors with fat roast Goose, it may partly ex- 
plain why they stuck to her in so troublesome and pertinacious 
a manner. 

The alarm given at the approach of the army of the Gauls, 
by the Geese kept in the capitol of Rome, occurred so long 



THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 407 

hack as A. u. c. 365, or 388 years before Christ. The passage 
is worth extracting : 

" Thus they were employed at Yeii, whilst, in the mean 
time, the citadel and capitol at Rome were in the utmost 
danger. The Gauls either perceived the track of a human 
foot, where the messenger from Yeii had passed, or, from 
their own observation, had remarked the easy ascent at the 
rock of Carmentis : on a moonlight night, therefore, having 
first sent forward a person unarmed, to make trial of the way, 
handing their arms to those before them, when any difficulty 
occurred, supporting and supported in turns, and drawing each 
other up, according as the ground required, they climbed to the 
summit in such silence, that they not only escaped the notice 
of the guards, but did not even alarm the dogs, animals par- 
ticularly watchful with regard to any noise at night. They 
were not unperceived, however, by some Greese, which, being 
sacred to Juno, the people had spared, even in the present 
great scarcity of food ; a circumstance to which they owed 
their preservation ; for by the cackling of these creatures, and 
the clapping of their wings, Marcus Manlius was roused from 
sleep, — a man of distinguished character in war, who had been 
consul the third year before ; and snatching up his arms, and 
at the same time calling to the rest to do the same, he hastened 
to the spot, where, while some ran about in confusion, he, by 
a stroke with the boss of his shield, tumbled down a Graul who 
had already got footing on the summit ; and this man's weight, 
as he fell, throwing down those who were next, he slew several 
others, who, in their consternation, threw away their arms and 
caught hold of the rocks, to which they clung. By this time 
many of the garrison had assembled at the place, who, by 
throwing javelins and stones, beat down the enemy, so that the 
whole band, unable to keep either their hold or footing, were 
hurled down the precipice in promiscuous ruin." — Jytv^f lib. 
V. cap. 47 — Baker's Translation. 



408 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 

Lucretius, referring to this event (lib. iv. 686) attributes the 
vigilance of the Geese to their fine sense of smell : — " The 
White GroosC; the preserver of the citadel of the descendants 
of Romulus, perceives at a great distance the odour of the hu- 
man race.'' 

Virgil, alluding to the same occurrence, (^n. viii. 655,) 
ascribes the preservation of the capitol to an ^^ Argenteus 
Anser" (a Silver Groose). Both these poets, therefore, inform 
us that the Domestic Goose of their day differed as much from 
the Gray-leg or the White-fronted, as it does at present, a cir- 
cumstance which the reader is requested to bear in mind. 

Pliny, about four hundred years later, remarks, (lib. x. 26,) 
*' The Goose is carefully watchful ; witness the defence of the 
capitol, when the silence of the dogs would have betrayed 

every thing It is possible, also, that they may have some 

discernment of wisdom. Thus, one is said to have stuck per- 
petually to the Philosopher Lacydis, never leaving him, either 
in public, in the baths, by night, or by day.'' And again, at 
xxvii. — " Our folks are wiser, who are aware of the goodness 
of their liver. In those that are crammed it increases to a 
great size ; when taken out, it is laid to swell in milk mixed 
with honey. And it is not without cause that it is a matter 
of debate who was the first to discover such a dainty, whether 
Scipio Metellus, of consular dignity, or M. Seius, a Eoman 
knight at the same epoch. But (what is certain) Messalinus 
Cotta, the son of Messala, the orator, discovered the method 
of cooking the web of their feet, and fricasseeing them in small 
dishes along with Cocks' combs. I am ready heartily to 
attribute the merit to the kitchen of either. It is wonderful 
that this bird should travel on foot from the Morini (in the 
north of France) to Rome. Those which are tired are carried 
to the front; so that the rest push them on by a natural 
erowding In some places they are plucked twice a year." 



THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 409 

A great deal of this is the same as has happened with us, with 
a slight change of names and places. 

It is very natural to inquire whence so remarkable and 
valuable a bird was originally obtained ; but the conclusion 
generally arrived at, appears to me, to be inconsistent, not 
merely with truth, but even with probability — namely, that it 
results from the crossing and intermixture of several wild spe- 
cies. None of these ancient accounts indicate any such fact ; 
but, on the contrary, declare that the Domestic Groose was in 
the earliest ages (dating with respect to Man) exactly what it 
is now. The very same arguments that are used to show that 
the Domesticated Goose is a combination of the Gray-legged, 
White-fronted, and Bean Geese, would equally prove that the 
Anglo-Saxon race of Men is derived from a mixture of the 
Red Indian, the Yellow Chinese, and the Tawny Moor. I 
cannot, therefore, help suspecting very strongly that we shall 
err in referring the parentage of the Common Goose to any 
existing species. Mr. Yarrell hesitatingly says, that " the 
Gray-legged Goose is considered to be the origin from which 
our valuable domesticated race is derived ;'^ and instances the 
union of a pinioned wild Gray-legged Gander with a Domestic 
Goose that had been assigned as his mate.* But those who 
have kept many different species together, well know what un- 
accountable attachments they are frequently forming, and that 
they are quite as likely to pair, and rear young, with individuals 
of a race apparently the most alien to themselves as with their 
own stock. Indeed, among Geese, it will be difficult to de- 



* These birds have produced young, which, by breeding in-and-in, 
have again produced young resembling themselves ; thus giving sup- 
port to Mr. Yarrell's conjecture. I record the fact. Many readers 
may think it opposed to the views here expressed : it is the only one 
I have ever met with at all tending to contradict them, 
^■b S5 



410 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 

fine the limits of species, at least if the fertility or infertility 
of hybrids be the test. 

But the supposition that all our domesticated creatures must 
necessarily have an existing wild original, is a mere assumption ; 
and it has misled, and is likely to mislead, investigators as far 
from the truth as did the old notion about fossil organic re- 
mains, that they were Lithoschemata, as Aldrovandus has it, 
sketches in stone, abortive efforts of Nature, imperfect em- 
bryos, instead of fragmentary ruins of a former state of things. 
Some naturalists seem already to have had misgivings that 
such a theory respecting domestic animals is not tenable. Ac- 
cording to the Rev. L. Jenyns, — 

^' The Domestic Groose is usually considered as having been 
derived from the G-ray-legged Groose, but such a circumstance 
is rendered highly improbable from the well-known fact that 
the Common Gander, after attaining a certain age, is inva- 
riably (?) white. Montague, also, observes that a specimen of 
the Anser ferus, which was shot in the wing by a farmer in 
Wiltshire, and kept alive many years, would never associate 
with the tame G-eese. In fact the origin of this last is un- 
known.^^ — Jenyns' s 3Ianual of Vertebrate Animals, p. 222, 

The origin of the Domestic Goose is indeed unknown, if we look 
to Man, or his influence, to have originated so valuable and 
peculiar a species ; but not unknown, if we believe it to have 
been created by the same Almighty Power who animated 
the Mammoth, the Plesiosaurus, the Dinornis, and the Dodo. 
For let us grant that the Gray-legged Goose is the most pro- 
bable existing parent of the domestic sort. Now, even that is 
becoming a rare bird ; and the more scarce a creature is in a 
wild state, the scarcer it is likely still to become. Suppose the 
Gray-legged Goose extinct; by no means an impossibility. 
Then those who must have a wild original from which to de- 
rive all our domestic animals would be compelled to fall back 
on some other species still less probable. It is surely a simpler 



THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 411 

theory to suppose tliat creatures that were cotemporary with 
the Mammoth, have, like it, disappeared from the earth in 
their wild state, but have survived as dependents on Man, than 
to engage in attempts at reconciling incongruities and dis- 
crepancies, which, after all, cannot satisfy the mind, but leave 
it in as doubtful a state as ever. 

Still less is the White-fronted the ancestor of the Domestic 
Goose. Entirely white specimens of the Alhifrons are indeed 
occasionally hatched in confinement, and the Common Groose 
may now and then exhibit traces of an admixture or dash of 
blood with it, as it certainly does, occasionally, of a cross with 
the China Goose (CycnoUes)} but these are mere impurities, 
which wear out, and the race returns to the well-known do- 
mestic type. And it will be allowed by most persons who 
have possessed a variety of these birds, and who have watched 
and tended them day by day, that the Domestic Goose is suffi- 
ciently separated from the Gray-legged by the colour of its 
feet and legs ; from the White-fronted by the extreme dif- 
ference of its voice, manner, time of incubation, colour of the 
eyes, greater thickness of neck, convexity of profile, and many 
other little particulars that are more easily perceived than 
described. 

It might be urged, as a further essential difference, that the 
Domestic Goose is polygamous, whereas all Wild Geese that 
we are acquainted with are monogamous. It is true that Wild 
Geese, in captivity, will couple with the females of other species ; 
but that takes place by their utterly neglecting their own mate 
for the time, not by entertaining two or more mistresses at 
once. It will be replied, that habits of polygamy are the 
effects of domestication -, but what proof have we of such an 
assertion? Domestication has not yet induced the Pigeon 
and the Guinea Fowl to consort with more than one partner; 
and the Swan, called Domestic by some writers, remains obsti- 
nately and even fiercely faithful in its attachments. 



412 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 

The Domestic Grander is polygamous, but he is not an in- 
discriminate libertine : he will rarely couple with females of 
any other species. Hybrid common Gi-eese are almost always 
produced by the union of a Wild Grander with a Domestic 
Goose, not vice versa. 

Of the Domestic Goose there really is but one variety, indi- 
viduals of which are found varying from entirely white plumage, 
through different degrees of patchedness with gray, to entirely 
gray colouring, except on the abdomen. The Ganders are 
generally, not invariably, white. Such are sometimes called 
Embden Geese, from a town of Hanover, famous also for 
groats. Fine white Geese may doubtless be hatched at 
Embden, as well as in Middlesex, and, if actually imported, 
may claim the name of their native place, but cannot on that 
account be allowed to form themselves into a separate clan. 
High feeding, care, and moderate warmth, will induce a habit 
of prolificacy, which becomes in some measure hereditary. 
The season of the year at which the young are hatched (and 
in England they may be reared at any season) influences their 
future size and development. After allowing for these causes 
of diversity, it will be found that the Domestic Goose consti- 
tutes only one species or permanent variety. 

Mr. Bagshaw, of Norwich, annually fats several thousand 
Geese for the London market. He has sometimes as many 
as two thousand Geese at once on his extensive premises. 
The birds are collected from all parts, wherever, in short, they 
can be most advantageously obtained. Some are English, more 
are from Holland, but the greater part are procured from 
Prussia. Having been obligingly permitted to inspect this 
vast assemblage, I could find nothing that had the least claim 
to be called a variety, though they came from so many dif- 
ferent quarters. The nearest approach to it was that some 
had bills of a dull black, others had the nail of the bill black, 
others again had it white, but there was nothing either in 



THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 413 

form, voice, gait, or attitude, to afford the least suspicion that 
there exists any sub-species of the Domestic Groose. One bird 
was pointed out by the proprietor as differing from the rest. 
He was a half-bred with the China Groose. 

The Toulouse Goose, which has been so much extolled and 
sold at such high prices, is only the common domestic, en- 
larged by early hatching, very liberal feeding during youth, 
fine climate, and perhaps hy age, I am in possession of 
Geese, hatched at a season when it was difficult to supply 
them with an abundance of nourishing green food, that are as 
much under-sized as the Toulouse Goose is over-sized; they 
are all Domestic Geese, nevertheless. It is for the sake of 
enlarging the growth of the Goslings, not for the mere purpose 
of supporting their strength, that the breeders cram them night 
and morning with flour-and-egg pellets. Grass alone would 
suffice for their sustenance, but extra nourishment makes 
extra-sized birds. Toulouse Geese are fine, six foot high, 
grenadier individuals of the Domestic Goose — that is all. 
Some were to be seen not far from the Horse Guards, in 
proximity to their human representatives, in the autumn 
of 1848. 

The importance of feeding all growing creatures abundantly 
and well, cannot be too often forced upon the attention of the 
breeder, whether of fowls or quadrupeds. A pertinent illus- 
tration of its effects, even upon Man, is given by the Rev. John 
Williams, in his "Missionary Enterprises," p. 512. "The 
men are strong and tall, being frequently upwards of six feet 
high, with limbs firm and muscular, but not heavy and clumsy. 
This is especially the case with the chiefs, and more remark- 
ably so with those of Tongatabu and the Friendly Islands, whose 
form and bearing are as stately as their movements are natural 
and free. The women are inferior to the men ; but yet they 
often present the most elegant models of the human figure. 

" Captain Cook attempted to account for the superior size 

36* 



414 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 

of the chiefs, by supposing that they were a distinct race ; but 
in this we think he was incorrect. It may, perhaps, be at- 
tributed in part to their progenitors, who were probably raised 
to the chieftainship on account of their physical superiority, 
or of some achievements which resulted from it; partly to 
their mothers, who were generally selected by the chiefs for 
their form and stature ; and partly to their treatment during 
the years of childhood and youth. As soon as the son of a 
chief was born, two or three of the finest and most healthy 
women were selected to nurse it; and while performing this 
office, which they frequently did for three years, they were 
provided with abundance of the best food. A child of Tino- 
mana, of Rarotonga, had four nurses, and he was a little 
monster. With this commencement, their subsequent train- 
ing corresponded. I think these causes sufficient to account 
for the superiority of the chiefs, many of whom are certainly 
splendid specimens of human nature.'^ We think similar 
causes sufficient to account for the superior size of the Toulouse 
Geese, which really do look like common Geese as they would 
appear if seen through the long-focused magnifying glass of a 
raree-show. 

The following will be pronounced a mere case of malforma- 
tion, not the springing up of a new variety 

" I have noticed that in a flock of Geese here, from which 
many Goslings are reared every season, there is always one 
bird, and sometimes two, with the two farthest joints of one 
wing growing as if they had been twisted round, out of their 
proper position. None of the old Geese have this peculiarity, 
nor, as far as I can ascertain, does it arise either from ill-treat- 
ment or the forcing themselves through narrow places. It 
seems rather to be a natural lusus of the wing joint, and one 
would think must effectually prevent their flying.^^ — R. IT. 

The value and usefulness of Geese is scarcely calculable. 
We omit what is owing to them, as having furnished the most 



THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 415 

powerful instrument wielded by tlie hand of Man. But in a 
mere material point of view, and reckoning on the very smallest 
scale, we will suppose that a village green supports only fifty 
brood Geese. The owners of these would be dissatisfied if 
they got but ten young ones from each in the year, besides 
Eggs; this gives five hundred Geese per annum, without 
taking the chance of a second brood. Multiply five hundred 
by the number of village greens in the kingdom, and we still 
form a very inadequate estimate of the importance of the bird. 
And all this with scarcely any outlay. The little trouble they 
demand, of being secured at night and let out in the morning, 
of setting the Geese, and " pegging" the Goslings, is a source 
of amusement and interest to thousands of aged and infirm 
persons, in whose afiections their Geese stand second only to 
their children and relations. What a pity it is that such 
cheerful commons should be ever converted into barren 
thickets and damp Pheasant covers, to afi"ord a school for 
young sportsmen and rural policemen to practise their several 
arts in. 

The only damage they do, lies in the quantity of food they 
consume; the only care they require, is to be saved from 
thieves and starvation. All the fears and anxieties requisite 
to educate the Turkey and prepare it for making a proper ap- 
pearance at table, are with them unnecessary; grass by day, a 
dry bed at night, and a tolerably attentive mother, being all 
that is required. Roast Goose, fatted, of course, to the point 
of repletion, is almost the only luxury that is not thought an 
extravagance in an economical farm-house; for there are the 
feathers, to swell the mistress's accumulating stock of beds; 
there is the dripping, to enrich the dumpling, pudding, or 
whatever other farinaceous food may be the fashion of the 
country for the servants to eat; there are the giblets, to go to 
market or make a pie for a special occasion, and there is the 



416 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 

wholesome, solid, savoury flesli for all parties in their due 
proportion. 

They are accused, by some, of rendering the spots where 
they feed offensive to other stock ; but the secret of this is 
very simple. A Horse bites closer than an Ox, a Sheep goes 
nearer to the ground than a Horse, but, after the sharpest 
shaving by Sheep, the Groose will polish up the turf, and grow 
fat upon the remnants of others. Consequently, where Geese 
are kept in great numbers on a small area, little will be left 
to maintain any other grass-eating creature. But if the com- 
mons are not short, it will not be found that other grazing 
animals object to feed either together with, or immediately 
after a flock of Geese. 

Many instances of the longevity of the Goose are on record, 
and it is needless to repeat them. I have myself seen one 
upwards of thirty years of age, followed by a thriving family; 
but they are capable of reaching double and treble that extent 
of life. Indeed, the duration of the existence of the Goose 
seems to be indefinitely prolonged, and not terminable by the 
usual causes of decay and old age, (like Pliny's Eagle, which 
would live for ever, did not the upper mandible become so 
excessively curved as to prevent eating, and cause death from 
starvation ;) and reminding us of the accounts, apparently not 
fabulous, which we hear in these modern times, respecting the 
Pelican and the cartilaginous fishes. One thing is certain, 
that housewives do not consider Geese to be worth much for 
breeding purposes, till they are four or five years old. They 
will lay and produce some few young ones in the course of 
their second summer; but older birds fetch much higher 
prices as stock. Three or four Geese may be allotted to one 
Gander ; the male bird is known by being, generally, white, and 
also by his bold and patronizing carriage. He is an attentive 
sentinel while his dames are incubating, but renders them no 
personal assistance by taking his turn upon the nest — an error 



THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 417 

which seems to have originated with Goldsmith. When the 
young at length go forth to graze, he accompanies them with 
the greatest parental pride and assiduity. 

The Goose has the additional merit of being the very ear- 
liest of our Poultry : — 

" On Candlemas day 
Good housewife's Geese lay; 
On Saint Valentine 
Your Geese lay, and mine." 

In three . months, or at most four, from leaving the Egg, 
the birds ought to be fit for the feather-bed, the spit, and the 
pie. It is better, either to eat them at this early stage as 
green Geese, or, to keep them another six months, till after 
they have moulted and renewed their feathers, when they can 
be fatted till they grow into the ponderous, satisfactory succu- 
lent joint which suits a healthy Michaelmas or Christmas 
appetite. It will be found unprofitable to kill them between 
these two epochs of their life. They will be fatted by being 
shut up in society, in a clean, quiet out-house, with plenty of 
dry straw, gravel, and fresh water, and are there to be supplied 
for a certain length of time, continued according to the weight 
desired to be laid on, with all the barley or oats they can eat. 
The kind of grain used depends upon custom or convenience, 
some advocating barley, others oats; a mixture might perhaps 
be the most effectual. Barley-meal and water is recommended 
by some feeders; but full-grown Geese that have not been 
habituated to the mixture when young, will occasionally refuse 
to eat it. Cooked potatoes, in small quantities, do no harm. 
A first-rate delicacy, though rather expensive, would be pro- 
duced by following Penelope's system of feeding, and giving 
the birds steeped wheat. 

The Goose is not only very early in its laying, but also very 
late. It often anticipates the spring in November, and after- 



418 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 

wards, when spring really comes in March, it cannot resist its 
genial influence. The autumnal Eggs afford useful employ- 
ment to Turkeys or Hens that choose to sit at unseasonable 
times : and the period of incubation, thirty days, is less tedious 
than that required for the Eggs of China Geese or Musk 
Ducks. A dry, airy lean-to or shed, and the gleanings of a 
kitchen-garden, are all that are needful to rear the young. 
Their great enemy will be the cramp, which may be kept off 
by making them sleep on dry straw, and turning them out 
with their mother for an hour or two every mild and open day. 
When winter Groslings are expected, a Michaelmas planting 
(not sowing) of lettuce and endive should be made ; the latter 
will be found particularly serviceable, as also the tender parts 
of turnip tops. A living turf laid down in the out-house and 
changed occasionally, will be relished. A little boiled rice, 
daily, assists their growth, with corn, of course, as soon as they 
can eat it. A rushlight burnt in a Goose-house during the 
fifteen or sixteen hours of darkness in winter, has been suc- 
cessfully employed to induce the Goslings to eat. And when 
it is remembered that the candle costs the fraction of a penny, 
while an early green Goose is worth from seven shillings to 
half a guinea, it will be seen that the expense is not thrown 
away. Almost all breeders of Goslings administer, by cram- 
ming, long half-dried pellets, composed of raw Egg and wheat 
flour ; it is an old practice, but is unnecessary, except during 
midwinter. 

We give Columella's directions for rearing : — 
^' And the Gosling, while he is very little, is shut up in a 
pen for the first ten days, and fed along with his mother : 
afterwards, when the fine weather permits, he is led forth into 
the meadows, and to the fish-ponds, And care must be taken 
that he is neither stung by nettles, nor sent fasting to the 
pasture, but has his appetite satisfied beforehand with chopped 
endive or lettuce leaves. For if he goes to pasture still weak 



THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 419 

and hungry, lie tugs at the shrubs and more solid herbs so 
pertinaceously as to break his neck." — Columella, lib. viii. 
chap. xiv. The Roman school of poulterers were in great fear 
of nettles for their Goslings, and as a counter-irrative remedy, 
it was proposed to place nettle-roots under the sitting Geese; 
but one would say that the nettles, not the Goslings, had the 
greatest reason for alarm. 

Geese are slaughtered by being bled from the internal parts 
of the throat, — a slow and cruel method. They, as well as 
Ducks, should be let out to the pond a few hours before exe- 
cution, where they will purify and arrange their feathers as 
neatly as if they were going to their wedding instead of to 
their death. Adult birds are almost exempt from disease. 
When three-quarters grown, they occasionally, though not 
often, " go light," as the country people call it, and waste and 
die like a person in a consumption. This usually happens 
only with birds that are shut up too closely to fat. The 
remedy is liberty and grass. 

I have seen the shell of a Goose's Egg that had contained 
three yolks. 

The flight of the Domestic Goose is quite powerful enough, 
especially in young birds, to allow them to escape that way, 
were they so inclined. In the autumn, whole broods may be 
seen by early risers, taking their morning flight, and circling 
in the air for matutinal exercise, just like Pigeons when first 
let out of their locker. 



420 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE CHINA GOOSE. 



Op this twrK^TV, three beautiful specimens were exhibited at 
the late Agricultural Show, held in the county of Philadelphia. 
They were owned by a gentleman, whose name I forget, living 
in the vicinity of Tacony, near this city. In introducing this 
variety to the reader, Mr. Dixon says : — 

There is a venerable joke about a Spanish Don, who knocked 
at a cottage door to ask a night's lodging. " Who's there ? 
What do you want ?" said the inmates. ^^ Don Juan Jose 
Pedro Antonio Alonzo Carlos G-eronimo, &c., &c., &c., wants to 
sleep here to-night." ^'G-et along with you," was the reply: 
'' how should we find room here for so many fellows ?" The 
China Groose is in the same position as the Spanish Don. It 
has names enough to fill a menagerie. China G-oose, Knob 
Goose, Hong-Kong-Goose, Asiatic Goose, Swan Goose, Chinese 
Swan, (Cygnu^ Sinensis, CuviER,) Guinea Goose, Spanish 
Goose, Polish Goose, Anas and Anser cygnoides, Muscovy 
Goose, and probably more besides. 

Confusion, therefore, and perplexity, are the certain lot 
of whosoever attempts to trace this bird in our books of na- 
tural history. Its place of birth has excluded it from all mo- 
nographs or limited ornithologies. In very few systematic 
works is it mentioned at all, which is remarkable of a bird so 
striking in its appearance, which there is every reason to be- 






oo 

O 




^ ' 1 illll 



THE CHINA GOOSE. 421 

lieve must have been domesticated for a long period. The un- 
certainty that has existed as to its correct name, and really na- 
tive country, may be one cause of this. Like the Jews or the 
Gripsies, it has not been allowed to claim a place among the 
natives of any one region ; and, like many others furnished 
with a variety of aliases, it ends by being altogether excluded 
from society. 

The old writers call it the Guinea Groose, for the excellent 
reason, as Willughby hints, that in his time it was the fashion 
to apply the epithet ^' Gruinea'' to every thing of foreign and 
uncertain origin.* Thus, what we at this day erroneously call 
the Muscovy Duck, was then called the Guinea Duck. Not 
long back it was common with us to refer every strange or new 
object to a French source. Spanish Goose is another title, 
probably as appropriate as Guinea Goose. Bewick has given 
an admirable wood-cut of this bird, but he has evidently se- 
lected the Gander, which is taller and more erect than the fe- 
male, though to both may be applied Willughby's description, 
'^a stately bird, walking with its head and neck, decently 
erected."" Bewick calls it the Swan Goose. The tubercle at 
the base of the bill, the unusual length of neck, and its grace- 
ful carriage in the water, give it some claim to relationship 
with the aristocracy of lake and river. Cuvier (Grifl&ths' edi- 
tion) goes further, calls it at once Cygnus Sinensis, Chinese 
Swan, and says that this and the Canada Goose cannot be 
separated from the true Swans. A Goose, however, it de- 
cidedly is, as is clear from its terrestrial habits, its powerful 



■5^ The epithet "Indian" has also answered the same accommo- 
dating purpose. " The lesser kind I conjecture to be the right 
Mambrine or Syrian Goat, although some of the late "writers call it an 
Indian Goat ; the reason is, because (as hath beene said) they cal al 
strange beasts by the names of Indians, if they find them not in their 
owne countrey." — Toj)sell''s History of Foure-footed Beasts, p. 236. 



422 THE CHINA GOOSE. 

bill, its thorny tongue, and its diet of grass. And therefore 
we have determined to call it the China Groose, concluding 
that Cuvier is right about its home,* and other authors about 
its goosehood. 

There is something in the aspect of this creature, the dark- 
brown stripe down its neck, its small bright eye, its harsh 
voice, its ceremonious strut, and its affectation of seldom being 
in a hurry, which seems to say that it came from China. It 
would perfectly harmonize in a picture of Chinese still life ; or 
in a Chinese garden, with artificially arranged rocks, dwarf 
trees, crooked trellises, and zigzag pathways; or, in a more 
extended landscape, it would group well on a broad river, 
beside a boat filled with shaven fishermen, with their trained 
cormorants and pig-tailed children. If it does come from 
China, it has no doubt been domesticated for many hundred 
years, perhaps as long as the Peacock or common Fowl. They 
may be made to lay a large number of Eggs by an increased 
supply of nourishing food. This is very different from the 
disposition to " lay everlastingly," as seen in the Gruinea 
Fowl, and some varieties of the domestic Hen — the Black 
Spanish for instance; because the China Groose does in the 
end feel a strong desire to incubate as soon as her protracted 
laying is done, whereas entire exemption from the hatching 
fever is the great merit of the " everlasting layers." If 
liberally furnished with oats, boiled rice, &c., the China Goose 
will in the spring lay from twenty to thirty Eggs before she 
begins to sit, and again in the autumn, after her moult, from 
ten to fifteen more. I have never observed any disposition to 
sit after the autumnal laying It is not, as in the Guinea 
Fowl, a spontaneous flow of Eggs, for which the ordinary diet 



*In journeying overland, (in books of Travels,) we meet witli the 
Swan Goose more frequently as we approach Tartary and China. 



THE CHINA GOOSE. 423 

of the creature is sufficient, but is as mucli dependent on feed- 
ing as the fatness to which a bullock is brought. A Groose 
that I supplied with as much oats as she could eat, besides 
grass, potatoes, and cabbages, laid Eggs larger than ordinary ; 
one of them (with a double yolk) weighed seven and a half 
ounces, nearly half a pound. I need hardly say that double- 
yolked Eggs are very rare, except among birds that are highly 
fed. 

Another peculiarity is their deficient power of flight, com- 
pared with the rest of their congeners, owing to the larger 
proportionate size of their bodies.* The common Domestic 
Goose flies much more strongly than its brother from China. 
Indeed, of all Geese this is the worst flyer. There is no oc- 
casion to pinion them. While the Canada Goose thinks little 
of a journey from the North Pole or thereabouts to Great 
Britain, while the Egyptian Goose pays us joccasional visits 
from Africa, while the merry little Laughing Goose, if tamed, 



* "In opposition to this statement, permit me to say, that the 
China Geese, if true bred, fly very well, at a considerable height and 
long distances. As a proof that they fly, many years since, a la- 
bourer coming to his work at Capesthorne, near Macclesfield — Mr. 
Davenport's — found an Egg on the grass in the park evidently drop- 
ped by some bird that had flown over, as no such Geese were known 
there. The Egg was set, and produced a Chinese Goose, which lived 
more than twenty years, having died about three years since, ap- 
parently of old age. I have often seen the Goose, and sent a China 
Gander to solace her declining years, but she would not allow him to 
come near her. Last year, I used often to admire the fine sweeping 
flights of five of this breed near my house. I am quite sure as to 
many of this breed flying quite well and strong." — W. D. F. I can 
only account for this by the fact that there are more varieties of the 
China Goose than is commonly suspected, as nothing like the power 
of flight here described, the truth of which cannot be doubted, has 
ever fallen under my own observation, at home or elsewhere. 



424 THE CHINA GOOSE. 

and allowed the use of its wings, is almost as much at ease in 
the air as a Pigeon, the Chinese Goose can hardly manage to 
flutter across a lawn, to get out of the way of a frisky spaniel. 

"Said the Tame Goose to the Wild one, ^On such a day I 
shall fly away.'' Said the Wild Goose to the Tame one, ^ I 
shall fly away on such a day, if it be the will of Allah.' At 
the appointed time the Wild Goose performed her yearly mi- 
gration ; the Tame Goose cannot fly to this day." If China, 
instead of Egypt, had produced the above fable, we should be- 
lieve that the Anas cygnbides was the vain, boastful bird. 

The large number of Eggs laid by these birds has led some 
persons to imagine that, like Guinea Fowls, they were inex- 
haustible, so that when at last the Goose did make her nest in 
earnest (which may be known by her mixing her own down 
with the straw) no Eggs had been reserved for the poor thing 
to sit upon. The best plan is to date the Eggs with a pencil, 
as they are laid, and to consume only those which are more 
than three weeks old. They are usually very late with their 
broods, but will rear them well enough if they are allowed to 
take their own time, and do it after their own manner. My 
China Goose has now (June, 1848) laid thirty Eggs, without 
intimating any intention of sitting, but she has annually 
brought off a family for the last five years, and I doubt not she 
will again this season. When the fit comes, she will take pos- 
session of her milk -pan, which stands in a large boarded coop, 
like a dog-kennel. Once duly enthroned there, she will main- 
tain her seat with proper perseverance and tenacity. A neigh- 
bour discarded his China Goose because she was always found 
standing over her Eggs, instead of sitting upon them. But 
those were only the preliminaries, the overture to the per- 
formance. Hurry no man's cattle ; and you may as well try 
to hurry the Emperor, as the Goose of China. Their time of 
incubation is five weeks. I have always found them steady 
sitters when they once begin in earnest, and exemplary parents. 



THE CHINA GOOSE. 425 

The Groose, on leaving her nest to feed, covers her Eggs care- 
fully. Any difficulty in rearing them results from want of 
proper management. If, for instance, when the bird does at 
length sit, she is insufficiently supplied with Eggs, or with those 
which have been kept too long ; or if she be permitted to be 
disturbed by dogs, &c. ; if she be suffered to steal a nest, and 
sit on more than she can cover — things will go wrong. The 
great number of Eggs laid may perhaps cause an uncertainty 
that each one is properly fecundated. A China Goose, after 
sitting a fortnight, was driven from her nest by a sow that had 
been permitted to get loose : the Eggs were eaten, shells and 
all, and the poor bird expressed her agony of mind, both by 
her cries and actions. After she became a little calm, her 
nest was re-made and supplied with fresh Eggs. She continued 
to sit for three weeks longer, as well as could be. At the end 
of the usual period of five weeks, she gave up her task as use- 
less, believing the Eggs to be addled, which they were not ; 
and we unfortunately knew no language by which we could 
persuade her that if she would only persevere for another fort- 
night, the reproach of barrenness would be taken away from her. 

These are annoying cases to practical ornithotrophists. But 
even here the difficulty need not have been insurmountable; 
and where there's a will there's a way. A worthy old couple 
had the misfortune to have their sitting Groose killed in one 
of her daily promenades, a few days before the Groslings were 
ready to leave the shell. What was to be done? The Eggs 
were cooling fast; no time was to be lost. Difficult emer- 
gencies excite brilliant efforts of genius. In an instant the 
old man was undressed and in bed. To him the orphan Eggs 
were transferred. When he grew tired of his lying-in, the 
old lady took her turn, till the Goslings were safely hatched. 

The prevailing colour of the plumage of the China Goose is 
a brown, which has aptly been compared to the colour of 
wheat. The different shades are very harmoniously blended, 



426 THE CHINA GOOSE. 

and are well relieved by the black tuberculated bill, and the 
pure white of the abdomen. Their movements on the water 
are graceful and swan-like. It is delightful to see them, on a 
fine day in spring, lashing the water, diving, rolling over 
through mere fun, and playing all sorts of antics. Slight 
variations occur in the colour of the feet and legs, some having 
them of a dull orange, others black : a delicate fringe of minute 
white feathers is occasionally seen at the base of the bill. 
These peculiarities are hereditarily transmitted. But the 
White China Groose, if it be not specifically distinct, is a 
variety so decidedly marked as to demand a separate notice. 

The male is almost as much disproportionately larger than the 
female as the Musk Drake is in comparison with his mate. 
He is much inclined to libertine wanderings, without, how- 
ever, neglecting to pay proper attention at home. If there is 
any other Grander on the same premises, they are sure to dis- 
agree : one of the two had better be got rid of. Both male 
and female are, perhaps, the most noisy of all Greese : at night, 
the least footfall or motion in their neighbourhood is sufficient 
to call forth their clanging and resonant trumpetings. This, 
to a lone country-house, is an advantage and a protection. 
Any fowl-stealer would be stunned with their din before he 
captured them alive, and the family must be deaf indeed that 
could sleep on through the alarm thus given. But by day it 
becomes a nuisance to the majority of hearers, and has caused 
them to be relinquished by many amateurs. One is inclined 
to address them as O'Connell did the uproarious fellow who 
was interrupting his speech, ^' I wish you had a hot potato in 
your mouth." Or they might take a lesson from ^^Elian's 
Greese ; — " The Gleese, when shifting about Mount Taurus, are 
afraid of the Eagles, and each one of them, taking a stone in 
its mouth, that they may not cry out, as if putting a gag upon 
themselves, fly through their course in silence, and in this 
manner generally quite escape the notice of the Eagles." — 



THE CHINA GOOSE.^ 427 

Book V. chap. 29. We, however, prefer that our Geese 
should silence themselves with grass and corn. 

The Eggs of the China Groose are somewhat less than those 
of the domestic kind, of a short oval, with a smooth thick 
shell, white, but slightly tinged with yellow at the smaller end. 
The Goslings, when first hatched, are usually very strong. 
They are of a dirty green, like the colour produced by mixing 
Indian ink and yellow ochre, with darker patches here and 
there. The legs and feet are lead-colour, but afterwards 
change to a dull red. If there is any thing like good pas- 
turage for them, they require no further attention than what 
their parents will afford them. After a time a little grain will 
strengthen and forward them. If well fed, they come to ma- 
turity very rapidly. In between three and four months from 
the time of their leaving the shell, they will be full-grown 
and ready for the spit. They do not bear being shut up to 
fatten so well as common Geese, and therefore those destined 
for the table are the better for profuse hand-feeding. Their 
flesh is well-flavoured, short, and tender; their Eggs are ex- 
cellent for cooking purposes. I have heard complaints of their 
being a short-lived species, from good authority, and that the 
Ganders at least do not last more than ten or a dozen years. 
The instance above-mentioned does not show them to be long- 
lived. I cannot verify the facts, as my own experience with 
these birds extends only to about eight years; but it is quite 
in opposition to the longevity ascribed to other Geese. Hy- 
brids between them and the common Goose are prolific with 
the common Goose ; the second and third cross is much prized 
by some farmers, particularly for their Ganders :* and in many 



*"I can warmly recommend the cross of the China Gander with 
the common Goose, as producing finer birds and of much finer flavour; 
I have kept them for years. Indeed, I like the cross better every 
season, and have given Ganders to several friends to adopt the same 



428 THE CHINA GOOSE. 

flocks the blood of the China Groose may often be traced by 
the more erect gait of the birds^ accompanied by a faint stripe 
down the back of the neck. With the White-fronted Goose 
they also breed freely. 

In the very clear and useful ^^ Manual of British Vertebrate 
Animals," by the Kev. Leonard Jenyns, this bird is recorded 
as Cygnus Guineensis, or Guinea Swan, another synonyme; 
though it is hesitatingly added, ^'Native country somewhat 
doubtful." 



plan." — W. D. F. "They frequently couple "with our tame Geese, 
and produce a bastard kind between both ; they are excellent meat 
•when young and fat, being of a different and pleasant taste from 
that of the common Goose.'' — Albin, vol. i. p. 87. 

** I cannot say that I admire the edible qualities of the Canada 
Swan, for such it properly is. We tried one here a few years back, 
and only voted it, I believe unanimously, extremely good for nothing. 
The knob-fronted, or Swan Goose, is really a good bird, and I have 
known some families which regularly kept them for the table in pre- 
ference to the common bird." — E. of D. 

"In the government of Penda, all kinds of Poultry are of a large 
size ; the Geese are mostly of a spurious breed from the Chinese, or 
those with a swan-neck ; and in every village Pigeons fly about in 
abundance." — Pallas, South Russia, vol. ii. p. 18. 



429 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE BREMEN GOOSE. 

The following communication was kindly furnished me by 
Samuel J^ues, Jr., Esq., accompanied with portraits of his 
beautiful Bremen Geese. This, and the Chinese or Hong 
Kong variety, may be regarded as standing at the head of 
their class. 

Ten Hills Farm, neon" Boston, Mass., Dec. 12th, 1850. 
J. J. Kerr, M. D. : 

Dear Sir, — My father — Col. Samuel Jaques — has had in- 
timation from his friend, Dr. Eben Wight, of Boston, that you 
were about to publish a work on the subject of Domestic 
Fowls, Birds, &c., and that you would be pleased to receive 
from my father some information relative to his Bremen 
Geese — a name they have received in consequence of their 
having come from that place originally. I have my father^s 
notes to guide me in making the following statements, as well 
as his approbation that you should be furnished with them. 

In the winter of 1820, a gentleman, a stranger, made a 
brief call at my father's house ; and, in course of conversation, 
casually mentioned, that, during his travels in the interior of 
Germany, he had noticed a pure white breed of Geese, of un- 
usual size, whose weight, he supposed, would not fall much 
short of twenty-five pounds each, providing they were well fed 
and managed. At that period, a friend of my father's — the 



430 THE BREMEN GOOSE. 

late Eben Rollins, Esq., of Boston — kept a correspondence 
with the house of Dallias & Co., in Bremen, and at his re- 
quest, Mr. Rollins ordered, through that firm, and on my 
father's account, two Granders and four Geese, of the breed 
mentioned by the stranger gentleman. The G-eese arrived to 
order in Boston, in the month of October, 1821; and I append 
a copy of " Directions relative to the Geese from Bremen,'' 
given to the captain of the ship in which they arrived. I 
hold the original in my possession ; and transcribe it verh. 
et lit. : — 

"Emden, 17th August, 1821. 

"The captain who is to take over these six Geese will find 
the cages a little large; however, it is necessary that their 
lodgings be sufficient wide, if they shall arrive sound in 
America. Two Geese which were sent to Bremen last year 
in a small box, died on their arrival there; being water-birds, 
they want a much more careful management than Fowls; they 
ought to have constantly fresh water in abundance ; a quantity 
of good sand and muscle scells, (shells,) serving for their di- 
gestion, must be put into their feed-box ; there ought to be 
always sand and straw below in their cage for litter; also above 
the cage, as the birds perish otherwise by insects. The Geese 
must be feeded ; they used to pick the straw from above down 
to the feet. The Geese must be feeded with good clean oats, 
and sometimes with cabbage leaves.'' 

Ever since my father imported the Bremen Geese, he has 
kept them pure, and bred them so to a feather — no single in- 
stance having occurred in which the slightest deterioration of 
character could be observed. Invariably the produce has been 
of the purest white — the bill, legs, and feet, of a beautiful 
yellow. No solitary mark or spot has crept out on the plum- 
age of any one specimen, to shame the true distinction they 
deserve of being a pure breed : like, with them, always has 
produced like. 



THE BREMEN GOOSE. 431 

The original stock has never been out of my father's pos- 
session ; nor has he ever crossed it with any other kind, since 
it was imported in 1821. 

I find, by reference to my father's notes, that, in 1826, and 
in order to mark his property indelibly, he took one of his 
favourite imported Greese, and, with the instrument used for 
cutting gun-waddings, made a hole through the web of the 
left foot. This was done on the 26th June : and now, in 
1850, the same Groose, with the perforation in her foot, is 
running about his poultry-yard, in as fine health and vigour as 
any of her progeny. She has never failed to lay from twelve 
to sixteen Eggs every year, for the last twenty-seven years, 
and has always been an excellent breeder and nurse, as has 
all of the stock and off'spring connected with her. I had the 
curiosity to weigh one of her brood of 1849, when nine months 
old exactly, and his weight, in feather, sent up 22 lbs. in the 
opposite scale. This hugeous Anser has been preferred to 
breed from, the coming season. 

In 1832, a bull-dog killed several of my father's Greese, and, 
among them, the two Granders originally imported. For the 
last eighteen years he has bred by his young Gi-anders — putting 
them indiscriminately to parents and sisters — and reserving 
the best of the produce, male and female, for breeding. In 
so doing, he has never experienced any deterioration in weight, 
feather, or stamina, as has been exemplified in the above-men- 
tioned instance of the nine-months old Grander, so produced, 
and whose food was almost exclusively grass. 

As quality of flesh, combined with weight, is a main con- 
sideration, I wish to mention, regarding the former, that the 
flesh of the Bremen Groose is very dilFerent from that of any 
of our best domestic varieties. It does not partake of that 
dry character which belongs to other and more common kinds, 
but is as tender and juicy as the flesh of a wild Fowl; besides, 
it shrinks less in the process of cooking, than that of any other 



432 THE BREMEN GOOSE. 

Fowl. Some of tlie keenest epicures have declared that the flesh 
of the Bremen Groose is equal, if not superior, to that of the 
celebrated Canvas-back Duck. There is assuredly some comfort, 
not uncombined with ease, in carving a bird that weighs seven- 
teen pounds, and taking a slice from the breast, so long as to 
be obliged to cut it into two, that one-half may cover no more 
than the width of a common dinner-plate. 

The Bremen Groose inclines to commence laying at an earlier 
period than this northern latitude favours, which is in the latter 
part of February. To give the young fair play, it is not ad- 
visable that hatching should be finished before the first of June. 
The mode of prevention used by my father is as follows : — 

The whole of the breeding stock, male and female, are put 
into a dark room — say about the twentieth of February — and 
kept there until about the tenth day of April. When in 
durance they are well fed once a day with corn, and allowed 
suf&cient water all along to drink. Once a week they are 
allowed to get out for one hour, to wash and plume themselves, 
and are then shut up again. While thus confined, they lose 
the inclination to breed, and do not assume it while they 
are kept shut up ; but, in eight or ten days after they are set 
at liberty, the disposition returns, and they commence laying. 

The mode adopted by my father to bring the broods of Gros- 
lings forth in one day, is as under, and has been followed by 
him for many years, with unvarying results. In 1840, he had 
four Granders and ten Geese for breeding purposes. At that 
time, he had as many as thirty milk Cows in one stable, the 
large door of which opened upon the farm-lane. Directly in 
front of this door, he had his boxes, or nests, in which the 
Geese laid their Eggs. These boxes I will describe in course. 
The man who had charge of the Cows, had also the care of the 
Geese, and he worked by the following instructions. First : 
the Geese were to be carefully and properly fed. Secondly : 
the Kggs were to be removed in the most gentle manner, every 



THE BREMEN GOOSE. 433 

day, from the nests, and placed in a basket of cotton, whicli 
was kept in a moderate temperature and free from damp. 
When all the Geese had begun to sit steadily, each was fur- 
nished with a nest composed of chopped straw, and care was 
taken that the nest was sufficiently capacious. The Eggs were 
then set, and the Geese allowed to sit upon them. 

Strict attention was enjoined upon the attendant, not to 
allow more than one of the Geese to leave her Eggs at a time. 
As soon as one leaves the nest, she makes a cackling noise, 
which was tb be the signal for the man in attendance to go 
and shut up the boxes in which the remainder were sitting ; 
consequently, when the Goose returned, she found only her 
own box open. So soon as she had entered, the whole of the 
doors were again opened, and the same rule observed through- 
out the period of hatching. In following this style of manage- 
ment, every Goose was kept to its own nest. There were one 
hundred and twenty Eggs set altogether, twelve to each of the 
ten breeding Geese before alluded; and at the end of four 
weeks, which is the usual period of incubation, there were 
eighty-eight Goslings produced, ail in one day, and they formed 
a beautiful sight. 

When first hatched, the Goslings are of a very delicate and 
tender constitution. My father's general practice, is to let 
them remain in the box in which they were hatched for twenty- 
four hours after they leave the shell ; but he regulates this 
by the weather, which, if fair and warm, may tolerate the let- 
ting the Goslings out an hour or two in the middle of the day, 
when they may wet their little bills, and nibble at the grass. 
They ought not to be out in the rain at any time during the 
first month. A very shallow pool, dug in the yard, with a 
bucket or two of water thrown into it, to suit the temporary 
purpose of bathing, is sufficient during the period named. 

The practice of feeding my father follows, is not to give the 
Goslings any grain whatever, after they are four days old, until 

37 



434 THE BREMEN GOOSE. 

snow falls, when they require to be fed on corn for a time. 
He thinks, however, that if well fed on grain from the time 
they were hatched, they might weigh from 4 lbs. to 7 lbs. more 
than by leaving them to grass-feeding alone. 

By feeding his Geese until they are four days old, and then 
literally "sending them to grass,^' the weight of my father's 
Geese, at seven to eight months old, has averaged from 17 to 
18 lbs. each, after the feathers had been cleanly picked off. 
He has no doubt that 25 lbs. could be easily attained by a lit- 
tle attention to feeding with grain. 

The breeding-boxes mentioned above are made in the fashion 
something like a dog-kennel, with a roof pitched both ways. 
They are 30 inches long, by 24 inches wide, and are 24 inches 
in height. The door is in the end, and is covered by a sliding 
panel, which moves upwards, when egress or ingress is sought, 
and may be shut down at pleasure. For the first month, the 
Geese and Goslings are all shut up in the boxes at night, in 
order to protect them against rain and vermin. 

Having had the breed of Geese in question sent him from 
Bremen, my father named them after that place; but English 
writers call this variety the ''Embden Geese.^' It will be 
seen from what I have stated above, that my father was the 
original importer of this description, and therefore is entitled 
to the credit of first introducing it to the United States. 
It is certain that he had the Bremen Geese in his possession, 
at least five years prior to the time when Mr. James Sisson, 
of Rhode Island, imported his; and since 1821, my father has 
furnished this breed to many parties residing in almost every 
State in this Union, as also in Canada and Nova Scotia. His 
charge has universally been five dollars for each, dead or alive. 

I may have omitted details including some interest, but am 
not at present aware of there being any such forgotten. 
I am, dear Sir, respectfully yours, 

Samuel Jaques, Jr. 



435 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE WHITE-FRONTED, OR LAUGHING GOOSE. 

Mr. Dixon observes that Ornamental Poultry may be di- 
vided into three classes, not with reference to their beauty or 
their natural arrangement, but in respect of their capabilities 
for domestication. The first class comprises those that are 
really domestic, (if we derive the word from domus, a house,) 
that unhesitatingly confide themselves to the protection of Man, 
and may be trusted with their complete liberty, in the certainty 
that they will prefer the shelter of his roof, at proper times 
and seasons, to a state of nature. This would include Cocks 
and Hens, some Pigeons, Turkeys, the Common Domestic, 
and the China G-eese, the Musk Duck, and a few others. 

The second class includes those birds which are restrained 
from resuming their original wild habits, more by the influence 
of local and personal attachment, than from any love they seem 
to have for the comforts of domestication; which may be 
trusted with their entire liberty, or nearly so, but require an 
eye to be kept on them from time to time, lest they stray away 
and assume an independent condition. In this class we have 
the Pea-Fowl, the White-fronted Goose, the Wigeon, the Ca- 
nada Goose, the Egyptian Goose, and others, including per- 
haps the Common Duck. 

The third class embraces all those birds which, however fa- 



436 THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 

miliar they may become, so as even to eat from tlie hand of 
their keeper, are yet in their hearts as un tameable as a fly ; and 
must, therefore, be kept in complete, though to many eyes in- 
visible restraint, lest they withdraw themselves completely 
from all human control; and whose taste for domestication 
does not seem to increase, though many successive generations 
of them have been bred in captivity. In this class we have 
the Swan, the Teal, the common Gallinule, the Pheasant, the 
Nycthemerus, and indeed all the inmates of ttur cages, avia- 
ries, and menageries, that are not included in the first and 
second classes. 

It is clear that from the second class alone can we hope to 
obtain any useful and profitable addition to our stock of Poul- 
try. A bird must be found to belong undoubtedly to that, 
before it can be promoted into the first class. The great diffi- 
culty in looking over this unlimited third class, is to discover 
which species may be advanced into the second. Some are 
decidedly hopeless cases. The Swan, for instance, and the 
Pheasant, are no more likely at this moment to become domes- 
tic than they were when first discovered amidst the streams 
and copses of Western Asia. Ages before the discovery of 
America, while the Turkey remained yet unsuspicious of the 
settler's rifle, they were as domestic as they now are, and as 
they are ever likely to be. It is true Temminck speaks of 
the Cygne Domestique, and says that it "lives in domesticity 
in most countries, very abundant in Holland" — but the term 
domesticity appears only likely to lead into error, when applied 
to a creature that hates the confinement of a house, pining and 
wasting if compelled to remain long in one, the use of whose 
wings is obliged to be curtailed by amputation, which is kept 
within bounds on a stream only by mutual jealousy and the 
difficulty it has in travelling far by land, to say nothing of 
park-palings and mill-dams. 

The White-fronted Goose is an excellent example of our 



THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 437 

second class, and well deserves the patronage of those who 
have even a small piece of grass. Its natural history in a wild 
state is fully detailed in Mr. Yarrell's valuable^ ^British Birds;" 
the figure also is very good, though it is a pity that a pair of Geese 
were not given ; but as the works of that gentleman, like every 
other original book on the subject, have been largely drawn 
upon, I refrain from borrowing what he has written, particu- 
larly as the object of this volume is, not to encroach upon the 
department of the systematic naturalist, but merely to state 
what has been observed of birds that have been reclaimed. 

The first impression of every one who saw the White-fronted 
Goose in confinement, would be that it could not be trusted 
with liberty ; and the sight of it, exercising its wings at its 
first escape, would make its owner despair of recovering it. A 
pair of young ones that were bred in this country were kindly 
supplied to me, and though they were evidently not wild, their 
friskiness and vivacity were such, that it appeared best to 
shorten the quill-feathers of one wing, and so deprive them of 
the power of flight till their next moult. Long before that 
time, however, their confidence and attachment removed all 
hesitation as to the future. Now, at the most distant sound 
of my voice, they will come flying, like Pigeons, to alight at 
my feet j and occasionally, particularly in winter and spring, 
perform graceful evolutions in the air, that show great power 
of wing and enjoyment in its exercise. They are perfectly 
unrestrained, except that the kitchen-garden is forbidden to 
them. During the severe weather in the winter of 1846-7, 
while the herbage was buried deep under the snow, we feared 
they might be tempted to join some of their travelling re- 
lations that now and then passed overhead ; but we swept a 
spot bare in the orchard, to amuse them with the idea of grass, 
threw down a few Savoy cabbages, gave them a little extra 
corn, and, though they would fly over the house, to get at a 
spring where the water was still unfrozen, they showed no wish 

S7* 



438 THE WHITE -FRONTED GOOSE. 

to seek their fortunes elsewhere, or desert their old companion, 
a China Goose, who could only proceed on foot to take her 
draught at the brook. 

We have now had them more than three years. In the 
spring of 1846, the Goose laid some Eggs in an exposed spot, 
and dropped one or two others here and there, which were 
added to them, and she then sat as well as Goose could sit. 
But owing to the persecutions of an ill-natured Canada Gan- 
der, whose delight it was to drive her from her nest, and way- 
lay and beat her as she was returning to it from grazing, the 
Eggs were all addled, and the poor bird, for some time after- 
wards, showed her dejection and disappointment. Her mate 
did what he could to protect her from the assaults of her enemy, 
but his inferior size and strength rendered him powerless. 
She did not produce a second laying, as is the case with many 
birds under similar circumstances. In the mean while, the 
truculent Canadian had been banished ; and in the spring of 
1847, she selected a better place for her nest. She scratched 
a hollow in the ground, at the edge of a grass walk, under a 
white-thorn, about eighteen inches above the surface of the 
water. The Eggs were removed as laid, and, when she began 
sitting, restored to her, with a bunch of straw, which she ar- 
ranged according to her own pleasure, and with which she 
could cover her Eggs whenever she had occasion to leave them. 
She began sitting on the 7th of April ; on the 7th of May two 
very pretty Goslings came forth, one of which promised to be 
white ; the next day they were missing, and the rat-catcher 
explained the cause of their sudden disappearance, by extract- 
ing an enormous rat from a hole immediately under the nest. 
The remaining Eggs proved unfertile; doubtless, from the 
Gander being permitted to enjoy the society of the above-men- 
tioned China Goose. After the loss of her young, and the 
abstraction of her worthless Eggs, she still persevered in sit- 
ting, with vain expectation, on the empty nest. To prevent 



THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 439 

this, we filled the hollow with thorns. She then betook her- 
self to watch the success of her rival, the China Goose, who 
was still sitting. When the little ones came forth from their 
shelly prison, she assisted in affording them a mother's care, 
leading them to the tenderest herbage, brooding them under 
her wings, and accompanying all their movements with their 
real parent. 

The Eggs are smaller than those of the Common Goose, 
pure white, and of a very long oval ; whether this is a specific, 
or only an individual peculiarity, I am unable to say. The 
shell is also thinner than most other Gooses' Eggs. The flesh, 
both of the wild and of the tame bird excellent. In hard 
weather, they are frequently to be had at the poulterers* shops, 
and generally at low prices, in the provinces at least, owing to 
an unfounded supposition that their flesh would be fishy, as in 
the sometimes scarcely eatable Brent Goose. But those who 
are fond of game, will find it, if hung up long enough, a dish 
for an epicure. 

If my own birds are to be taken as specimens, the White- 
fronted Goose is a pattern of all that is valuable in anserine 
nature, gentle, aff'ectionate, cheerful, hardy, useful, self-de- 
pendent. The Gander is an attentive parent, but not a faithful 
spouse. Indeed, it is time to contradict what has been pub- 
lished on this latter point, and to caution amateur breeders 
that Ganders have not the virtues of Scipio. Two treatises, 
now before me, have the following passage, dififering slightly 
from each other in the wording : 

"It has been ascertained, by M. St. Genis, that Geese will 
pair like Pigeons and Partridges; in the course of his experi- 
ments, he remarked, that, if the number of the Ganders exceed 
that of the Geese by two, and even by three, including the 
common father, no disturbance nor disputes occur, the pairing 
taking place without any noise, and no doubt by mutual 
choice. Besides the common father, he left two of the young 



440 THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 

Ganders unprovided with female companions 3 but the couples 
which had paired kept constantly together, and the three sin- 
gle Ganders did not, during temporary separations of the males 
and females, offer to approach the latter.'^ 

Acting on this advice, I permitted pairs of four different 
species of Geese to associate together during the season of 
1846. Three Ganders of the four appeared to think that each 
Goose, except his own, was at liberty to be unfaithful; and 
that every Gander, except himself, was wrong in committing 
an infidelity. What with their jealousies before laying-time, 
and their quarrels after it, with plenty of Eggs, we did not 
get a single Gosling of any sort throughout the whole summer. 



THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 

Of this variety, Mr. Dixon says : — " Every like is not the 
same,^^ is a principle that is beginning more and more to in- 
fluence the reasonings of zoologists, and to affect their conclu- 
sions with respect to Wild Animsih, The important deductions 
derived from minute differences, in creatures that are almost 
in juxtaposition together, both systematically and locally, may 
be seen in the late " Voyage of the Beagle round the World," 
and in the '' Quarterly Review," on "Broderip's Zoological 
Recreations" (March, 1848). But with Domesticated Ani- 
mals, a diametrically opposite axiom would seem to hold; they 
are described and catalogued apparently on the rule that 
"things maybe unlike, and yet the same." The many dif- 
ferent kinds of Fowl are supposed to be varieties — by which, I 
presume, is meant transmutable, or at least transmuted forms — 
of one, or at most, two or three wild originals; and the history 
of the Domestic Goose is quietly settled, by considering it as 
the result of a fusion of three or four different species melted 



THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 441 

and mixed into one. Believe it ! — those who think that the 
Bernicle Groose originates from a worm engendered in the sea 
from rotten wood — not I. Perhaps these essays may cause 
the real truth to be more closely investigated. 

If, within the last half-dozen years, three different sorts (I 
abstain from using a stricter word) of China Geese, identical 
with those with which we are acquainted, had been discovered 
in three adjacent islands of the Indian Archipelago, they would 
probably have been formed into a separate genus, say Cygnb- 
ides, or better, CEderamphus, of which the species might be, 
first, alhus, ox galeatissimuSy as typical; the next rufipes, and 
the third, perhaps, haetwus, retaining, though in a different 
sense, one of its trivial names. We should have, as a generic 
character, ^^ forehead surmounted with a large knob, partly 
fleshy and partly osseous, increasing with age ; beak powerful, 
highly ridged, adapted to the digging up and division of roots 
and tubers, to which purpose it is often applied ; " — they make 
short work with a potato — '^habits, more terrestial than 
aquatic ; attitudes, in the water graceful and swanlike, on 
land, constrained and usually erect; voice, harsh and loud; 
powers of flight very limited and weak," and so on; then 
would follow the specific distinctions. 

Now, we will further suppose that a stock of each of these 
species was either brought to England, or retained in domesti- 
cation on the neighbouring Asiatic continent, or both ; that the 
islands became thickly peopled, or repeatedly visited by mari- 
ners armed with fowling-pieces, and anxious for fresh meat, 
and also for sport. The birds cannot escape by flight, nor by 
running away ; they can neither swim so swiftly, nor dive so 
far as to baffle a boat and a crew of stout rowers ; they make 
no attempt to conceal themselves, as a common Hen will if she 
be hunted in a shrubbery; their loud cries betray them when 
unseen; and, consequently, in their native Jiome, they un- 
dergo the fate of the Dodo: they are exterminated. But their 



442 THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 

aptitude for domestication has preserved the race: they sur- 
vive in our poultry-yards, artificial lakes, and Zoological Glar- 
dens,"^ and, after a while, they are styled varieties of, nobody 
indeed knows what. If they had refused to propogate in cap- 
tivity, they would have become extinct, like the Uri of the 
Hercynian forest.f 

Is this an impossible or even an unlikely case ? Where are 
we now to find a wild Cereopsis ? Where will our great-grand- 
children be able to find a Wild Turkey a hundred years 
hence ? 

But before finally determining to fix the appellation of 
species, or variety, to any particular race of animals, it will be 
necessary first to settle the question of what is meant by the 
terms Grenus, Species, and Variety. They are all understood 
to denote certain degrees of difference, that are made use of 
to assist in classification ; but the precise lines of demarcation 
of each are extremely difficult to define. It is generally as- 
sumed that individuals of different genera will refuse to breed 
together ; that the mules between different species are sterile ; 
and that varieties are merely accidental and recent examples 
of a slight alteration in the external character of species, 
which do not affect their continuance as a race, and, perhaps, 
disappear altogether after a time. But in opposition to this, 
hybrids have been produced between the Egyptian Groose and 
the Penguin Duck ; also between the Common Fowl and the 



* " The foretliought and industry of Man assists in the preserva- 
tion and safety of not a few animals, and those things which the 
earth produces. For there are many, both of beasts and plants, that 
could not continue in existence, if depi-ived of the protection of 
Man." — Cicero, De Natura Deorum II. 

f* But not even when taken very small, can the Uri be reconciled 
to the presence of man, and become tame." — C^sar de Bello Gallice, 
lib. ii. cap. 28. 



THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 443 

Guinea Fowl ; prolific mules are constantly occurring between 
all sorts of species of Geese ; and it is well and practically 
known, that thougli varieties breed freely with each other, 
nothing is so difficult as to establish a cross that shall be a 
perfect amalgamation of two distinct varieties. Even indi- 
vidual peculiarities are reproduced in the course of generations. 
In truth, species and varieties differ only in degree. If we 
admit that the latter are merely recent changes of organization, 
we cannot refuse to allow that the former are so likewise ; and 
thence proceeding backwards, we must apply the same view 
to genera and classes, till we arrive at last at the theory of 
the development of all animated beings from Monads, as ad- 
vocated by Lamarck, and more recently by the author of the 
^' Vestiges of Creation." This is one mode of explaining the 
diversity of Nature ; the other is by supposing that animals 
were originally created as we now see them, and that any ap- 
parent gaps in the chain or network are caused by the ex- 
tinction of certain races, not by the uprising of new forms into 
existence, since the creation of Man, at least. Now, we have 
indisputable proof of the extinction of very many genera and 
species of innumerable Pre-Adamite animals, (and the reader 
is particularly requested to observe that we have now existing 
among us many Pre-Adamite animals* — the Common Badger, 

* Remains of the Aurochs (a species wMcli still survives by virtue 
of strict protective laws, in extensive forests, which form part of the 
Russian empire,) are found in the superficial deposits of various 
parts of Europe, some of which carry the antiquity of the Aurochs 
as far back as the extinct Pachyderms of the newer pliocene deposits. 

*' That the present European Beaver is not the degenerate de- 
scendant of the great Trogontherium, is proved, not only by the dif- 
ferences in the dental structure, pointed out in the preceding section, 
but likewise by the fact that Beavers, in no respect differing in size 
or anatomical character from the Castor Europceus of the present day, 
co-existed with the Trogontherium. Remains of the Beaver have been 



444 THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 

for instance, of older pedigree than all the Howards multiplied 
a thousand-fold — and I feel convinced many equally ancient 
birds also ;) and we have, besides, records of modern extermi- 
nations successively going on, from the Christian era to the 
present day. No undisputed record, however, is to be found 
of the sudden emergence into life of a new tribe of creatures. 
Foreign introductions there have been, but nothing more, that 
there is any affirmative evidence to prove. I am conscious 
that I may be contradicted by such examples as the New 
Leicester Sheep, and the very remarkable Eabbits that are now 
kept in a state of domestication ; but Mr. Bakewell is as- 
serted to have studiously concealed and destroyed every trace 
of the means by which he established his breed, and the secrets 
of the Rabbit Fancy are as likely to be made available to the 
elucidation of natural history as are the Eleusinian Mysteries. 
But so long as our commercial relations continue as widely ex- 
tended as they are at present, the sudden and unexplained 
appearance of any living novelty in England, is by no means 
of necessity its first appearance on any stage. It may be as 



thus discovered by Mr. Green in the same fossilized condition, and 
under circumstances indicative of equal antiquity v?ith the extinct 
Mammoth, in the lacustrine formation at Bacton. 

" A fossil skull of a Badger, in the Museum of the Philosophical 
Institution at York, would seem to carry the antiquity of the 3Mes 
iaxus to a higher point than the Cave epoch, and as far back as any 
species of the Ursine genus has been traced. Should this specimen 
prove authentic, the Meles taxus is the oldest known species of Mam- 
mal now living on the face of the earth. 

" My friend, Mr. Bell, has pleaded the cause of the poor persecuted 
Badger, on the ground of its harmless nature and innocuous habits ; 
the genuine sportsman will, doubtless, receive favourably the addi- 
tional claim to his forbearance and protection, which the Badger de- 
rives from his ancient descent." — Owen's British Fossil Mammals^ 
passim. 



THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 445 

old as the hills — some of them ; older than the English Chan- 
nel, and have neither made a sudden drop from the clouds in 
these latter days, nor have been recently compounded, like 
Frankenstein's monster, from the members of defunct creatures, 
nor yet electrified into life in a pickle jar, like Mr. Cross's 
mites. Milton's noble lines are no longer applicable : — 

** Meanwhile, the tepid caves, and fens, and shores. 
Bursting with kindly rupture, forth disclosed 
Their callow young ; but feathered soon and fledge. 
They summed their pens ; and, soaring the air sublime. 
With clang despised the ground. * * And straight the earth, 
Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth 
Numerous living creatures, perfect forms 
Limbed and full-grown ; out of the ground uprose, 
As from his lair, the wild beast where he wons 
In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den." 

If such views be correct, it will follow that those who are 
searching for the wild originals of many of our domestic ani- 
mals, are altogether pursuing a wrong scent. They might just 
as well search for the wild original of the Mammoth or the 
Dodo. It is an assumption, unsupported by any proof, to fix 
upon the wild creature that nearest resembles any given tame 
one, and to say, " Here is the wild original ; the difierences 
which we see have been produced by time and domestication ;'' 
or, if there is nothing wild coming within a moderate approach to 
it, to say, as of the Common Goose, " It is a combination of three 
or four other species." This is surely not philosophical reason- 
ing ; it is a begging of the question, which would not be ad- 
mitted in the exact sciences. What a daring leap at a con- 
clusion it is, to get from the Asiatic Argali, the American 
Argali, or the Corsican Mouflon, any or all of them, to the 
Sheep, at a single vault ! Such ratiocination is like the knight's 
move on the chess-board, hither and thither, but never straight 
forward. Nor has the wide gulf between Cocks and Hens and 

38 



446 THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 

the Jungle Fowl been as yet bridged over by any istbmus to 
me visible. But what may be said on this latter subject is, 
for the present, reserved. The principle here sought to be in- 
dicated as a guide for future research, is, that existing varieties 
and species which cannot be exactly identified in a wild state, 
are, in all probability, the remains of extinct races, the frag- 
ments of a ruin, not newly-raised " seedlings," modern sports 
and freaks of Nature. Man, as he extends his dominion over 
earth and ocean, is generally a Destroyer, occasionally an En- 
slaver, and so far a Protector, hence sometimes even a Selecter 
and Improver, but never a Creator. 

And now to the White China Greese, about whose lineage 
the reader, we hope, is by this time interested. 

My attention was first directed to these singular birds by 
Mr. Alfred Whitaker, of Beckington, Somerset. " I wish you 
could have seen the white variety or species, as it is so far su- 
perior in every respect to the brown. The period of incubation 
of the White China Goose was not more than thirty days, ^. e. 
not longer than that of the Common Duck. The White China 
Goose is of a spotless pure white" — a very few gray feathers 
have since appeared — ^^ more swan-like than the brown variety, 
with a bright orange-coloured bill, and a large orange-coloured 
knob at its base. It is a particularly beautiful bird, either in 
or out of the water, its neck being long, slender, and gracefully 
arched when swimming. It breeds three or four times in the 
season ; but I was not successful with them, owing, as I fancied, 
to my having no water for them, except a rapid running stream. 
A quiet lake I believe to be more to their taste, and more con- 
ducive to the fecundity of the Eggs. I believe my birds are 
still in the neighbourhood, as I lent them to a farmer to try 
his luck with them. The Egg is quite small for the size of 
the bird, being not more than half the size of that of the Com- 
mon Goose. This bird deserves to rank in the first class of 
ornamental Poultry, and would be very prolific under favourable 



THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 447 

circumstances. You will see both varieties of Brown and 
White China Geese on the water in St. James's Park. My 
Geese were from imported parents, and were hatched on board 
ship from China.'' 

On visiting town, in May, 1848, my efforts to get a sight of 
any White China Geese were unavailing. There were none 
left in St. James's Park ; there were not any in the Surrey 
Gardens, choice as that collection is; nor were any visible at 
the principal places where Poultry is offered for sale. The 
Zoological Society had parted from their specimens, in con- 
sequence of being overstocked with other things. Their head 
keeper seemed only to consider them in the light of a variety 
of the Cygnoides, but he spoke most decidedly of his experience 
of the permanence, not only of this variety, but also of that of 
the dark-legged, and the red-legged sorts of the brown kind, 
thus indicating three races, which, I repeat, would be con- 
sidered as species were they now discovered for the first time, 
on three islands even of the same group. 

From this difficulty I was most kindly relieved by receiving 
a pair of White China Geese, through Mr. Whitaker's means. 
They are larger than the Brown China Geese, apparently more 
terrestial in their habits ; the knob on the head is not only of 
greater proportions, but of a different shape. If they were 
only what is commonly meant by a variety of the dark sort, it 
is a question whether the bill would not retain its original 
jetty black, whatever change occurred to the feet and legs, in- 
stead of assuming a brilliant orange hue. If the bird were an 
Albino, the bill would be flesh-coloured, and the eyes would 
be pink, not blue. 

Mr. Knight, of Frome, in whose possession they had been 
for three years, states that he has been unable to obtain any 
young from the Eggs of the Goose ; but if he supplies her with 
Eggs of the Common Goose, she invariably hatches and rears 
the Goslings. Separate trials of each of the pair with the 



448 THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 

Common Goose and Grander have been made by him unsuc- 
cessfully, although the White China Groose lays four times in 
the year. Another gentleman (N. B.) who also had a pair of 
the same lot, from China, says, " I had one good brood from 
the young pair which I kept, but since that they have bred so 
badly that I have parted with the females and kept a male 
bird, and now get very good broods. My friends, to whom I 
have given young birds from my pair, also complain. The 
Geese sit remarkably well, never showing themselves out of 
the nest by day, but whether they may leave the nests too 
long in the cold of the night, I cannot tell. The time of in- 
cubation I consider to be about four weeks and three days. 
The young birds of the crossed breed in appearance follow the 
mother, the Common English Goose, but they do remarkably 
well ; and we have now (July 4) killed two really good and 
sufficiently fat birds, which were hatched only on the 29 th of 
March last." 



449 



.CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE BERNICLE GOOSE. 

Several ornithological writers have lamented, with ex- 
pressions of surprise, that so few of the larger water-birds have 
been domesticated, and made to afford us a ready supply of 
food, in return for their board and lodging. But it should be 
remembered that there are two parties to the proposed arrange- 
ment — the master and the slave. If the captive resolutely 
persists in saying, " You may bestow every care upon me, and 
lavish every comfort, but I will not be the parent of a race of 
slaves, although I may show a little personal thankfulness to 
yourself," the next move for us to make is to procure young 
that are ignorant of the fascinations of a wild life, and to en- 
deavour to subdue, by kindness, tlieir stubborn nature. If 
they remain indomitably independent, and refuse to yield, we 
are check-mated, and cannot proceed a step further. It is not 
in our power to increase the number of domesticable birds. 
^' The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every 
beast of the earth, and upon every Fowl of the air, upon all 
that moveth upon the earth,'^ is a promise which will be un- 
doubtedly fulfilled ; and thus, as the dominion of Man over the 
earth daily and hourly extends itself, those creatures that 
refuse to enter into his train, will be crushed, and perish 
beneath his advancing footsteps; for, ''into your hand are they 



450 THE EERNICLE GOOSE. 

delivered. Every moving thing that livetli shall be meat for 
you; even as the green herb have I given you all things/^ 

The Bernicle G-oose is one of those species in which the 
impulse of reproduction has at length overcome the sullenness 
of captivity; and it is a curious fact, that instances of their 
breeding have of late increased in frequency, and we may 
therefore hope will go on increasing. The young so reared 
should be pinioned at the wrist, as a precaution. The proba- 
bility is, that they would stay at home contentedly, unpinioned, 
till hard weather came, when they would be tempted to leave 
their usual haunts in search of marshes, unfrozen springs, mud 
banks left by the tide, and the open sea, where they would be 
liable to be shot by sporting naturalists — a fate which has 
done more than any thing else to check the propagation of 
interesting birds in England — or might be induced to join a 
flock of wild birds, instead of returning to their former quarters. 

Here is a warning example. The pinioning of a brood of 
Egyptian Gi-eese had been delayed too long ; they could fly, 
and though they came to be fed as usual, would not sufi'er 
themselves to be caught. In the winter, during a hard frost, 
they flew down to the marshes a few miles distant. Their 
keeper happened to be on the road thither, and seeing them 
in the air overhead, called to them as usual. They knew his 
voice, wheeled about, hovered for a moment, and then pursued 
their course. Shortly afterwards, they were shot by mistake 
for wild birds, by a person who must have been aware that 
there was a collection of water-fowl in the neighbourhood ; in 
which, however, there are now only male Egyptian Geese, the 
mother of the brood having suffered the same fate. Similar 
unfortunate mistakes are frequent. Does the paragraph in the 
local newspaper about the "rare bird'' shot by so and so, 
esquire, and the stuffed specimen in the smart glass case, com- 
pensate for the slaughter ? 

Broods of five, six, and seven Bernicle Geese have been 



THE BERNICLE GOOSE^ 451 

reared ; not an inconsiderable increase, if we only kept them 
to eat : but they have hitherto been chiefly valued as em- 
bellishments to our ponds. Their small size renders them 
suitable even for a very limited pleasure-ground, and they are 
perhaps the very prettiest Greese that have yet appeared in 
our menageries. The lively combination of black, white, gray, 
and lavender, gives them the appearance of a party of ladies 
robed in those becoming half-mourning dresses, that are worn 
from etiquette rather than sorrow. The female differs little 
from the male, being distinguished by voice and deportment 
more than by plumage. Their short bill, moderate sized webs 
of their feet, and rounded proportions, indicate an affinity to 
the Cereopsis. The number of Eggs laid is six or seven; the 
time of incubation about a month, but it is difficult to name 
the exact period, from the uncertainty of knowing the precise 
hour when the process commences. The Geese are steady 
sitters. Their young had better be crammed with very small 
pegs for the first week or so, after which they may be entirely 
confided to their parents. They are lively and active little 
creatures, running hither and thither, and tugging at the 
blades of grass. Their ground-colour is of a dirty white. 
Their legs, feet, eyes, and short stump of a bill, are black. 
They have a gray spot on the crown of the head, gray patches 
on the back and wings, and a yellowish tinge about the fore- 
part of the head. The old birds are very gentle in their dis- 
position and habits, and are less noisy than most other Geese. 
Waterton mentions an instance where the Gander paired with 
a Canada Goose, a most disproportionately large mate for him 
to select. The same thing has occurred in Norfolk, but in this 
case the ludicrous union was altogether unproductive. 

The service they may render as weed-eaters should not be 
forgotten, though their size alone precludes any comparison 
of them with the Swan in this respect. Sir W. Jardine says 
that he has observed their feeding-grounds to be extensive 



452 THE BERNICLE GOOSE. 

merses or flats partially inundated by the higlier tides, a cir- 
cumstance that may furnish a hint that their breeding may 
perhaps be promoted by their being furnished with a little 
sea-weed during winter and early spring. They are also suflS.- 
ciently removed from the typical G-eese to make it possible 
that a few cockles, limpets, shrimps, or small mussels would 
not be unwelcome. A single pair would be more likely to 
breed than if they were congregated in larger numbers : and 
the price demanded by the London dealers is not extravagant 
for healthy living specimens. 

The young of the Bernicle Goose, like those of the Canada 
and White-fronted G-eese, when left entirely to the guidance 
of their parents in this country, are apt to be attacked by a 
sort of erysipelatous inflammation of the head, similar to that 
from which the Domestic Fowl suff"ers so much, and which 
proves equally fatal. The eyelids swell till the bird is blinded; 
its suficrings must be extreme, even if it recover. The parts 
afi'ected discharge copiously a watery fluid. Frequent washing 
with warm water and vinegar is the best remedy, and cram- 
ming the bird to keep it alive, must be resorted to. Pills of 
rue-leaves, or a strong decoction of rue, as a tonic, have been 
administered with apparent benefit. The disease seems epi- 
demic rather than contagious, though I would not quite deny 
that it is so ; but of all remedies, warmth and dryness, par- 
ticularly at night, are the most indispensable. Goslings 
hatched about midsummer in the Arctic regions know not 
what it is to feel the absence of the sun. A Scandinavian 
summer's night, even in those latitudes where the sun does 
sink for an hour beneath the horizon, difiers from the day in 
little else than stillness. There are no frosts succeeding a 
broiling day, no chilling dews which require hours of sunshine 
to remove, but all is, for the time, perpetually bright and 
warm and genial. The difi"erence between such a climate and 
an English May must be seriously felt by our tender little 



THE BRENT GOOSE. 453 

pets, whatever care we may take to protect them. This clear, 
uninterrupted day, two or three months long, of settled, de- 
licious weather, gives a complete explanation of the apparent 
paradox that birds should retire to the regions, reputed abso- 
lutely icy, of the North, for breeding purposes. But those 
who have made the precincts of the Mediterranean their 
Elysium on earth, can have no conception of the health, the 
vigour, the manly tone of mind and body, to be inspired from 
Hyperborean breezes. 

Oh that I had the wings of a Dove ! then would I flee 
away with my little ones to the rich pine-forests, the rushing 
streams, the deep-cut inlets of the far North, and be at rest, 
till the snow-drifts of October made us again retreat, with the 
wild-fowl, to the temperate and hopitable shores of Britain ! 



THE BEENT GOOSE. 

This, and the interesting little Sandwich Island Goose, are 
the smallest of their tribe yet introduced to our aquatic avia- 
ries ; both being inferior in size to some Ducks. The captive 
Brent Groose has not, that I am aware, bred in any British 
collection. According to Audubon, it has been known to 
produce young in captivity, but when, or where, or on what 
authority, is not stated. To attain this result here, the most 
likely method is, probably, to make an approach to their na- 
tural habits, by supplying them with occasional marine diet. 
Fragments of shells, that had apparently been swallowed whole, 
have often been found in their gizzards. It might also be ex- 
pedient to assemble them in a flock, instead of keeping just a 
single pair, so that they could consult their own individual 
tastes in the choice of partners. Their picturesque effect, too, 
will be greater in this way. Their almost uniform colour of 



454 THE BRENT GOOSE. 

leaden black, and their compactness of form, make them a 
striking feature in the scene, though they cannot be compared 
in beauty with many other water-fowl. They may always be 
obtained from the London dealers. There is so little difference 
in the sexes, that it is not easy to distinguish them. Their 
chief merit, however, rests in their fondness for water-weeds, 
in which respect they appear to be second only to the Swan. 
On this account. Ware Goose is one of their trivial names. 

"Brent Geese have the cunning, in general, to leave the 
mud as soon as the tide flows high enough to bear an enemy, 
and then go off to sea, and feed on the drifting weeds. '^ — ■ 
Colonel Hawker. 

"On the north-eastern shores of England, where we have 
had opportunities of seeing them, they might be considered as 
entirely maritime, not being known to leave the water-mark, 
or ever to feed on the pastures or young grain. During ebb- 
tide, they fed on the banks of Zostera Marina, then uncovered; 
and Mr. Selby mentions the ulva latissima as very frequently 
found in their stomachs ] at other times they rest on the sand- 
banks, which are quite open, and afford no shelter for ap- 
proach; or they ride, as it were, just off the land, buoyant 
upon the wave, and occasionally pluck the sea-grass or weeds 
which are yet borne up within their reach." — Sir W. Jardine. 

Brent Geese are quiet, gentle, and harmless in captivity. 
Having eaten only Norfolk-killed specimens, I cannot agree 
with those who praise them on the table. They were fishy, 
strong, and oily; but whoever is not fond of such savours, 
may convert the birds into tolerable meat, by having them 
skinned, and baked in a pie. 

"Immense numbers of Brent Geese/' says Mr. St. John, 
" float with every tide into the bays formed by the bar. As 
the tide recedes, they land on the grass, and feed in closely- 
packed flocks. On the land, they are light, active birds, 
walking quickly, and with a graceful carriage. On any alarm, 



THE BRENT GOOSE. 455 

before rising, they run together as close as they can ; thus 
affording a good chance to the shooter, who may be concealed 
near enough, of making his shot tell among their heads and 
necks. All Geese and Swans have this habit of crowding to- 
gether when first alarmed. 

•^ A wounded Brent Groose, which I brought home, very soon 
became tame, and fed fearlessly close to us; indeed, I have 
frequently observed the same inclination to tameness in this 
beautiful kind of Groose.^' 



456 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



THE TAME DUCK. 



My friend, Mr. D. Taggart, of Northumberland, writes con- 
cerning the Common Duck and its varieties, as follows : — 

" You wish to be posted up in aquatic birds : I know some- 
what of these, but probably not so much as yourself. In re- 
gard to Ducks, they are much more prolific than they usually 
have credit for, and even for Eggs, can be made a profitable 
bird, if well fed and properly managed. Any Common Duck, 
so treated, if not old, will yield, in a season, one hundred or 
more, large, rich, and delicious Eggs. When they lay, it is 
daily or nightly, and if kept from sitting, which is easily done 
by changing their nests frequently, they will lay, with little 
interruption, from February or March until August. But the 
trouble is, a Duck lays only when Eggs are most abundant, 
while Hens' Eggs may be procured at all seasons. 

" The young of Ducks seldom die of disease, and if cats and 
rats are exterminated, as in all cases they should be, there will be 
no trouble in raising almost as many Ducks as you have Eggs. 
One year, from 94 Eggs, I had 91 hatched, and raised 87. 
Twenty-four of these were Musk, or Muscovy Ducks as they 
are erroneously termed. In speaking of the prolificness of 
Ducks, I do not think this variety should be included. They 
lay comparatively few Eggs. Ducks come early to maturity, 



O k! 

■ c 
o 










THE TAME DUCK. 457 

being nearly full grown and in fine eating order at three 
months old ; far excelling, in this respect, all other Poultry, 
except G-eese." 

Of the Tame Duck, Mr Dixon says : — 

One leading opinion seems to run throughout them all, that 
our farm-yard Ducks are nothing more than the tamed de- 
scendants of old English Mallards. It is a pity to disturb so 
plausible and general a belief; but an attempt to approximate 
to the solution of Audubon's problem, " when this species was 
first domesticated,'' has raised some doubts upon the subject, 
which it is of no use to suppress. 

One thing, I think, may be demonstrated, ^. e. that the date 
of its first appearance in domestication on the European con- 
tinent is not very remote, however high may be its antiquity 
in India and China. In pursuing these sort of inquiries, 
which are daily becoming more interesting and more import- 
ant in their conclusions, one regrets that untranslated works on 
natural history or farming (if such there be) in the Oriental 
languages, are sealed records to almost every one who has the 
leisure to make use of their contents. It is extremely pro- 
bable that great light might be thrown on the origin and history 
of our domesticated animals by a careful inspection of such 
works. As it is, we are left to obtain our evidence from im- 
perfect and (with the exception of geology) more recent traces. 
If the Swan and the Pelican were forbidden to the Israelites, 
and their carcases to be held in abomination, (see Leviticus 
xi. 18,) the Duck would probably be included in the list of 
unclean birds ; or, rather, we may without violence suppose 
that the Hebrew words translated "Swan'^ and '^Pelican," 
are used generically for all web-footed Fowl. But, as Scott 
says, " here the critics find abundance of work.^^ 

I think it may be shown from negative evidence that the 
Komans at the time of our Saviour, and subsequently, were 
not acquainted with the domesticated Duck. I can find no 



458 THE TAME DUCK. 

passage plainly declaring that they were, but many implying 
that they were not. 

Columella, after having given directions for the rearing of 
Geese, which, with one or two laughable exceptions, are more 
sensible and practical than are to be found in modern works, 
proceeds to offer instructions for making the NessotropMon, or 
Duckery. He speaks of it as a matter of curiosity rather than 
profit ; " for Ducks, Teal, Mallard, Phalerids, and such like 
birds are fed in confinement.'^ Then it is to be surrounded 
with a wall fifteen feet high, and roofed with netting, ^Hhat 
the domestic birds may have no 'power of flying out, nor Eagles 
and Hawks of flying in." His mode of increasing his stock 
shows that Ducks had not at that time become naturalized and 
prolific inmates of the Roman Poultry-yards. ^^When any 
one is desirous of establishing a Duckery, it is a very old mode 
to collect the Eggs of the above-mentioned birds, (such as Teal, 
Mallard, &c.,) and to place them under common Hens. For 
the young thus hatched and reared, cast off their wild tempers, 
and undoubtedly breed when confined in menageries. For if 
it is your plan to place fresh-caught birds, that are accustomed 
to a free mode of life, in captivity, they will be but slow 
breeders in a state of bondage." — Lib. viii. cap. 15. 

Cicero also speaks of hatching Ducks' Eggs under Hens, 
(De Natura Deorum ]) but there is nothing in the passage 
from which to infer that those Ducks were domesticated, but 
rather the contrary; as he remarks how soon they abandon 
their foster-mother and shift for themselves. 

Pliny describes the flight of Ducks, as rising immediately 
from the water into the higher regions of the atmosphere, (lib. 
X. 54,) exactly as we see a Wild Duck rise now ; a performance 
that would make our duck-keepers uneasy. The very little 
mention that he makes of Ducks at all, shows that he did not 
habitually see them in domestication. 

From what JElian says about Ducks, we may conclude that 



THE TAME DUCK. 459 

he also was acquainted with them in the wild state only. His 
positive evidence would not be worth much, if the translator 
of Rabelais was justified in characterizing the " Yaria Historia'' 
as the production of " ^lian, that long-bow man, who lies as 
fast as a dog can trot;" but his negative testimony may prove 
something. In Book v. 33, he describes how the Ducklings, 
unable to fly, and to escape by land, avoid the attacks of 
Eagles by diving. Tame Ducks would hardly be in much 
danger from Eagles, whatever mishaps wild ones might be 
liable to ; although, from the frequent mention of these 
plunderers in classic authors, there certainly is reason to be- 
lieve that they were much more abundant while the great 
part of Europe remained uncivilized, than they are now. And 
in Book vii. 7, after having given the signs of the weather de- 
noted by loild birds, in which he includes Ducks and Divers, 
he proceeds to mention those afforded by Cocks and Hens and 
other domestic birds. 

Supposing it, however, to be proved that the Tame Duck is 
a comparative novelty in the West, it by no means follows 
that it is so on the Asiatic Continent and Islands, nor, as a 
corollary, that it is a tamed descendant of our Mallard. If 
the skeletons of one and the other were placed side by side, it 
would require, not a skilful comparative anatomist, but only 
an observant sportsman, or even an ordinary cook, to point out 
which was which.* Nor has sufficient weight been attached 
to the circumstance of one bird being polygamous, and the 
other monogamous. When we come to speak of the Domestic 
Goose, it will be seen how little such a difference is likely to 
be the result of domestication. Let us not forget, too, that the 
domestication of wild races is an art that demands quiet, peace, 
patience, and superabundance, not merely for its successful 

^ " You need not be at a loss to know a wild Duck. The claws in 
the wild species are black.'''' — Col. Hawker. 



460 THE TAME DUCK. 

issue, but for its being exercised at all, and was little likely to 
be much practised by any European nation, in the interval be- 
tween the fall of the Roman Empire and the present day, with 
a creature that required a course of generations to reclaim it. 
I am inclined, therefore, to consider our race of farm-yard 
Ducks as an importation, through whatever channel, from the 
East, and to point out the discovery of the passage of the Cape 
of Good Hope (1493) as the approximate date. The early 
voyagers speak of finding them in the East Indies exactly 
similar to ours ; and the transmission of a few pairs would be 
a much easier task than to subdue the shyness and wildness of 
the Mallard, and induce an alteration in its hony structure. The 
admirable reasoning of Professor Owen respecting our present 
domestic Oxen, is, to my mind, perfectly applicable to the 
Tame Duck. 

" My esteemed friend, Professor Bell, who has written the 
' History of Existing British Quadrupeds,' is disposed to believe 
with Cuvier and most other naturalists, that our domestic 
cattle are the degenerate descendants of the great Uru&. But 
it seems to me more probable that the herds of the newly- 
conquered regions would be derived from the already domes- 
ticated cattle of the Roman colonists, of those ^ boves nostri,' 
for example, by comparison with which Caesar endeavoured to 
convey to his countrymen an idea of the stupendous and 
formidable TJri of the Hercynian forests. 

" The taming of such a species would be a much more diffi- 
cult and less certain mode of supplying the exigencies of the 
agricultursit, than the importation of the breeds of oxen 
already domesticated and in use by the founders of the new 
colonies. And, that the latter was the chief, if not. sole 
source of the herds of England, when its soil began to be cul- 
tivated under the Roman sway, is strongly indicated by the 
analogy of modern colonies. The domestic cattle, for example, 
of the Anglo-Americans, have not been derived from tamed 



THE TAME DUCK. 461 

descendants of the original wild cattle of North America : 
there, on the contrary, the Bison is fast disappearing before the 
advance of ^he agricultural settlers, just as the Aurochs, and 
its contemporary, the Urus, have given way before a similar 
progress in Europe. With regard to the great Urus, I believe 
that this progress has caused its utter extirpation, and that our 
knowledge of it is now limited to deductions from its fossil or 
semi-fossil remains." — Owen's British Fossil Mammals, p. 500. 

In like manner, the Mallard, though not gone, is fast diminish- 
ing as a permanent inhabitant of England : the tame Duck, so 
much larger and heavier, if its descendant, can hardly be 
called a degenerate one. The Mallard is very widely diffused 
over the continental part both of the Old and the New World, 
and therefore its supposed adaption to domestic life isvas 
likely to have occurred in Asia as in Europe. Its dislike to 
salt water has made it less cosmopolitan among the islands. 
Dampier, in his Voyages, repeatedly mentions that in the East 
Indies " the tame Fowls are Ducks and Dunghill Fowls, both 
in great plenty ;" he does not describe the Ducks, except as 
^' the same with ours." He was doubtless correct in believing 
them to be the same ; although we know that the old travellers, 
and many of the modern emigrants, are not very precise in 
their zoology, and indeed might sometimes be excusably puz- 
zled. For instance, when Captain Wallis, soon after he dis- 
covered Otaheite, saw animals lying on the shore with their 
fore- feet growing behind their heads, rising every now and 
then, and running a little way in an erect posture, he might 
naturally be moved with curiosity to inspect them more closely : 
he afterwards found that they were dogs, with their fore-legs 
tied behind them, brought down by the natives as a peace- 
offering and a festival dish. 

I know of no instance in which any one has finally succeeded 
in founding a permanent tame farm-yard race of Ducks, by 
breeding from the Mallard, though the attempts have been 

39* 



462 THE TAME DUCK. 

numBerless, and a few parties have been on the very hrink of 
success. Crosses between the Wild and Tame breeds have 
answered better; but the progeny have retaine(? their full 
share of independent temper and movements. 

One of the most valid arguments in favour of the derivation 
of the Tame Duck from the Mallard^ is to be found in the 
readiness with which the former returns to a wild or a half- 
wild state. In Norfolk there is a breed called " Marsh Ducks/' 
more from their habits and place of birth than from any pe- 
culiarity of race. They are mostly of plumage similar to the 
Mallard, though an ornithologist would immediately dis- 
tinguish them ; their size and the fineness of their bones are 
intermediate between the wild bird and the common farm-yard 
Duck. They are turned out on the marshes to forage for 
themselves : indeed, it would be next to impossible to keep 
them at home ; and of the number which are annually lost to 
their masters, it would seem likely, at first sight, that quite 
as many assume an independent condition, as are killed by 
birds, beasts, or men of prey; but I doubt the fact, and they 
do not appear to be ever found actually and entirely wild. 
They are frequently sent to market towards the close of sum- 
mer, without being shut up at all to fatten, and aff"ord a cheap 
and relishing addition to the table. 

Similar instances on a smaller scale are frequent. " A 
farmer in our neighbourhood (Wiltshire) has a Duck, of the 
common black and white sort, that every year takes it into 
her head to abscond to the river, where she lays her Eggs. 
She does not, however, I believe, pair with any Wild Drake, 
but remains the whole summer in a wild state with her young 
ones, and then quietly returns to the yard in autumn. When 
I have been taking a walk sometimes about four in the morning, 
I have frequently seen her on the Down, about a hundred 
yards from the water. On being alarmed, they would all run 
and dart into the water with great rapidity : and this plan the 



THE TAME DUCK. 463 

old lady has acted on for several years, escaping unscathed by 
guns and dogs.'^ — H. H. 

There are several varieties of Tame Ducks, but their merits 
are more diverse in an ornamental than in a profitable point 
of view, and will be estimated very much according to the 
taste of individual fanciers. Those who merely want a good 
supply for the table, cannot do better than just to adopt the 
sort most common in their own vicinity. No country place 
should be without some, especially in low situations. A Drake 
and two or three Ducks will cost little to maintain, and will 
do incalculable and unknown service by the destruction of 
slugs, snails, worms, and the larvae of gnats, and other annoy- 
ing insects. The only trouble they will give, is, that if there 
be much extent of water or shrubbery about their home, they 
will lay and sit abroad, unless the poultry-maid or the boy 
gets them up every night, which should be done. Otherwise, 
they will drop their Eggs carelessly here and there, or incu- 
bate in places where their Eggs will be sucked by carrion- 
crows, and half their progeny destroyed by rats. In the 
neighbourhood of large pieces of water, or wide-spreading 
marshes, this will be either impossible, or attended with more 
waste of time than the Ducks are worth. In which case, and 
indeed in all cases with Ducks, I believe the slave-owner's 
maxim to be correct, that it is cheaper to buy than to breed. 
The smaller they are bought in, the more good service they 
will perform in ridding a place of minute crawling and creeping 
nuisances; and the most profitable management of them is to 
let them gorge all they can swallow, as fast as they can digest 
it, and to make them fit for table, and for the supply of ma- 
terials for feather-beds, at the earliest possible moment. The 
quickest return will be the most remunerative. 

As to cooking them, there is only one traditional old English 
mode. We would gladly transfer, as an illustration to these 
pages, Leech's admirable "Romance of Roast Ducks," from 



464 THE TAME DUCK. 

"Punch/' June 24, 1848, although he ought to have made 
the accompanying green peas more distinctly visible. 

^^ Lingo. — Ah, Cowslip, if you was a goddess! Jove loved an 
eagle ; Mars, a lion ; Phoebus, a cock ; Venus, a pigeon ; Minerva 
loved an owl. 

" Cowslip. — I should not have thought of your cock-lions, your 
owls, and your pigeons ; if I was a goddess, give me a Roast Duck.^^ 

The Agreeable Surprise, Act 1. 

In the Principality, they have a delicate way of serving 
them boiled, with onion sauce. On attempting to reproduce 
the dish after a tour in North Wales, the result was utter 
failure, till the secret was discovered that the Ducks must be 
salted a couple of days before being boiled. Still more hetero- 
dox fashions have been practised in former days. 

"The Pottage of Ducks toitJi Turni/pSy is made of Ducks 
larded, and half fried in Lard, or which have took three or 
four Turns on the Spit; then they are put in a Pot. The 
Turnips, after they have been cut in Pieces, and floured, are 
also fried in Lard, till they are very brown; then they are 
put in the same Pot with the Ducks, and left to boil slowly 
in Water, till the Ducks are done. Before the Pottage is 
carried to Table, it may be seasoned with a few drops of 
Yer juice." 

"To make a ^Ragout of Ducks ^ they must be larded, fried, 
very well seasoned with Salt, Pepper, Spices, young Onions, 
and Parsley, and put in a Pot to stew, with a little of our 
best Broth." 

" Ducks are roasted with four Roses of Lardons, one on 
each Wing, and one on each Leg : Some put another on the 
Stomach." 

"To make a Duck Pye, the Ducks must be larded, well 
seasoned, and the Pye baked for the Space of three Hours." — 
Dennis de Coetlogon^s Universal History, p. 827 et seq. 

The reader will take his choice ; we only wish him a good 



THE TAME DUCK. 465 

appetite and pleasant company ; the living birds belong more 
properly to our department. 

Of White Ducks, the best is the Aylesbury, with its un- 
spotted snowy plumage and yellow legs and feet. It is large 
and excellent for the table, but not larger or better than seve- 
ral others. They are assiduous mothers and nurses, especially 
after the experience of two or three seasons. A much smaller 
race of White Ducks is imported from Holland ; their chief merit, 
indicated by the title of Call Duck, consists in their incessant 
loquacity.* They are useful only to the proprietors of ex- 
tensive or secluded waters, as enticers of passing wild birds to 
alight and join their society. But in Norfolk, where the 
management of Decoys is as well understood as anywhere, the 
trained Decoy Ducks are selected to resemble the Mallard, 
male and female, as nearly as possible. Both systems are 
found to answer; the wild-coloured traitors arouse no sus- 
picion, while the conspicuous Dutchmen excite fatal attention 
and curiosity. When the newly-arrived immigrants, although 
bent on a pleasure excursion from the north, are listless, or 
suspicious of their company, and will not enter the Decoy, 
they may often be made to do so by the sudden display of a 
red handkerchief, or the rapid appearance and disappearance 

* "The cMef point to be attended to in England, is to get, if pos- 
sible, some young wild Ducks bred up and pinioned. Or, by way 
of a make-shift, to select tame birds which are the most clamorous, 
even if their colour should not be like the wild ones. But in France 
you have seldom any trouble to do this, as the Ducks used in that 
country are partly of the wild breed ; and three French Ducks, like 
three Frenchmen, will make about as much noise as a dozen English. 
The Italians, in order to make their call-birds noisy, for a 'roccalo,' 
burn out their eyes with a hot needle, a practice at which I am sure 
my English readers would shudder ; though tjj^e translation of what 
they say in Italy is, that ' these are the happiest birds in the world , 
always singing.'" — Colonel Hawker'' s Instructions, p. 367. 



466 THE TAME DUCK. 

of a Spaniel. The White Call Duck has a yellow-orange bill, 
that of the Aylesbury should be flesh-coloured. 

There is also the White Hook-billed Duck, with a bill 
monstrously curved downwards, not upwards, as some writers 
have it, but Koman-nosed Ducks in short, with features like 
Cruikshank's Jews, of a most grotesque and ludicrous appear- 
ance. It may be superfluous to remind the reader, that White 
Ducks make but a sorry figure in towns or dirty suburbs, or 
anywhere that the means of washing themselves are scanty. 
But Hook-billed Ducks are nothing new. Albin, in 1738, 
published coloured figures of both sexes, which look much as 
if they had a right to claim the rank of a species. The lines 
of small white specks on the head, as he describes them, are 
remarkable. The bill has some resemblance in its curvature 
to that of the Flamingo. He says, " These Ducks are better 
layers than any of the other, either wild or tame." 

The cottagers living on the northern coast of Norfolk, have 
one or two varieties that are very pretty, and are not usual, — 
one of a slate-gray or bluish dun, another of a sandy yellow ; 
there are some also with top-knots* which rival the Hook- 
billed Duck in oddity. 

Of mottled and pied sorts there exist a great variety ; black 
and white, brown and white, lightly speckled, and many other 
mixtures. The Rouen Duck of Poultry-books can hardly be 
separated from this miscellaneous rabble, and ought to be per- 
mitted to return to its original obscurity in the multitude. It 
is wrong to lead people to pay high prices for them as stock ; 
and we are quite at a loss to discover in them any unusual 
merit or other describable peculiarity. They appear to be 



* '' Some of the tufted tame Ducks, near Salisbury, are very hand- 
some, having crests j|s compact and spherical as any Polish Fowl ; 
but whether this is, or was, any distinct variety, I will not under- 
take to say." — II. II. 



THE TAME DUCK. 467 

identical witli the commonest Ducks which we have every- 
where. The '"^ Rouen," likewise ^^Rhone'^ Duck, is also 
written '^ Rohan/' I believe neither term to be correct, in 
point of fact : that is, not exclusively : i. e. Rouen Ducks are 
to be found wherever there are Tame Ducks. The words are 
similar in sound, but the two first are taken from localities, 
the last from the name of a distinguished family, one member 
of which, the Cardinal de Rohan, was strangely implicated in 
the diamond-necklace affair that caused such distress to Marie 
Antoinette. But we might just as well call them ^^ London" 
or ^^ Thames" Ducks, or "Mr. Smith's" Ducks. It would 
puzzle most " people to point out in what they differ from the 
every-day brown, or brown and white, farm-yard Duck. We 
should be told they were finer j a better sort, &c. An inquiry 
of some of, not all* the Dealers, for the authority on which the 
name was given, would probably be met by silence, or by anger 
at the public being told that birds, for which they charge six, 
eight, or ten shillings, may be had of any country higgler for 
Is. 6t?. I am even uncharitable enough to suspect that in- 
correct names are purposely given to unusual varieties, by a 
few poultry-merchants, in order to conceal the source from 
whence they were originally derived. My notion that the title 
Rouen and its aliases is only a trade name, intended to elevate 
the common sort into a choice and more marketable variety, 
is confirmed by the omission of such a designation by Aldro- 
vandi, and later by Buffon; both writers who swept every 
thing into their net. Penguin Ducks are nearly as strange as 



* I beg to acknowledge the gentlemanly and ready manner in 
whicli Mr. John Baily, of Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, has ex- 
pressed his willingness to impart information on a subject on which 
he is so well conversant. He is able and trustworthy to execute 
orders for choice specimens of Poultry, and I should certainly apply 
to him, did I want any select Fowls to be procured. 



468 THE TAME DUCK. 

tlie Hook-billed. Their peculiarity consists in walking up- 
rightly, in feeble imitation of a Penguin. But it is not 
strikingly apparent when they are in an ordinary frame of 
mind. A sudden fright makes them raise their heads, as it 
will many other birds. 

A variety not usually met with, but which deserves to be 
better known, is that advertised by the Messrs. Baker as the 
Labrador Duck ; the Zoological Society have had it under the 
name of Buenos Ayres Duck, and received it from that place ; 
in the south of England it is known as the Black East Indian 
Duck. It would be difficult to fix upon three more dissimilar 
and widely-separated spots on the face of the globe. We may 
at once discard the claim of Labrador, however rich in wild 
specimens, to the honour of sending any new tame variety of 
bird. Believing that our Tame Ducks are all importations 
from the East, I should give the preference to the Indian title. 
Nothing is more probable than that the Zoological Society had 
their birds from the East, via Buenos Ayres. Whether the 
stock had been introduced there a month, or twenty years pre- 
viously, does not alter the main fact ; while ships direct from 
India would be very likely to land a few pairs at the first 
Channel port they touched at. 

By some country dealers they are styled Beaver Ducks, in 
allusion, perhaps, to a black beaver hat. These persons es- 
teem them highly, and usually send them to London alive, 
where, if good specimens, they are eventually disposed of to 
amateurs at the rate of eight or ten shillings each. 

But from whatever quarter obtained, they are handsome 
creatures. A little girl, at her first sight of them, could not 
help exclaiming — "Oh! what beautiful golden-green Ducks!'' 
The feet, legs, and entire plumage, should be black; a few 
white feathers will occasionally appear ; but I had some birds 
that were immaculate, and such should be the model of the 
breeder. The bill also is black, with a slight under-tinge of 



THE TAME DUCK. 469 

green. Not only the neck and back, but the larger feathers 
of the tail and wings are gilt with metallic green ; the female 
also exhibits slight traces of the same decoration. On a sun- 
shiny day of spring, the effect of these glittering Black Ducks 
sporting on the blue water is very pleasing, especially if in 
company with a party of the Decoy breed in strictly Mallard 
plumage. 

A peculiarity of these Black East Indian Ducks is, that they 
occasionally — that is, at the commencement of the season — lay 
black Eggs; the colour of those subsequently laid, gradually 
fades to that of the common kinds. This strange appearance 
is not caused by any internal stain penetrating the whole 
thickness of the shell, but by an oily pigment, which may be 
scraped off with the nail. They lay, perhaps, a little later 
than other ducks, but are not more difficult to rear. Their 
voice is said to differ slightly — ^a fact I have not observed : but 
they are far superior to others in having a high wild-duck 
flavour, and, if well kept, are in just repute as being excellent 
food when killed immediately from the pond, without any 
fatting. My attention was first called to them by a friend and 
neighbour, to whom I am indebted, not only for the informa- 
tion, but for handsome specimens. 

The time of incubation of the Tame Duck is thirty days."^ 

* Does tlie Mallai*d differ in tliis respect from the Tame Duck ? I 
think not. But, according to Audubon, " at length, in about three 
weeks, the young (of the former) begin *o cheep in the shell." Did 
we not know his usual great acciu'acy, we should suspect some error, 
and also be startled at the subjoined statement. " The squatters of 
the Mississippi raise a considerable nvimber of Mallards, which they 
catch when quite young, and which, after the first year, are as tame 
as they can wish. These birds raise broods which are supo'ioi' even to 
those of the old ones, for a year or two, after which they become similar to 
the ordinary Ducks of the poultry-yard. The hybrids produced be- 
tween the Mallard and the Muscovy Duck are of great size, and af- 

40 



470 THE TAME DUCK. 

The best mode of rearing them depends very much upon the 
situation in which they are hatched.* For the first month, 
the confinement of their mother under a coop is better than 
too much liberty. All kinds of sopped food, barley meal, and 
water mixed thin, worms, &c., suit them. No people are more 
successful than cottagers, who keep them, for the first period 
of their existence, in pens two or three yards square, cramming 
them night and morning with long dried pellets of flour and 
water, or egg and flour, till they are judged old enough to be 
turned out with their mother to forage on the common and the 
village pond. Persons with extensive occupations, over which 
the Ducks would stray and be lost, will find it better answer 
their purpose to buy in their main supply of Ducks half-grown, 
than to rear them, besides having the satisfaction of putting a 
few shillings into the pockets of their poorer neighbours. A 
few choice old favourites may still be retained for their services 
as grub-destroyers, for the beauty of their plumage, and for 
the pleasure of seeing them swim their minuets in the pond, 
bowing politely to each other — the bows to be returned — be- 
fore they take their afternoon's doze on the grass, with their 
sleepy eyelids winking from helow, and their bills stuck under 
the feathers of their back, by way of a respirator. The healthy 
heartiness of their appetite is amusing rather than disgusting. 
A cunning old Duck, to whom I tossed a trap-killed mouse, 
tried hard to get it down in the rough state, but finding that 
impossible, she toddled off with it to the pond, where, after a 

ford excellent eating. Some of these half-breeds now and then wander 
off, become quite wild, and have by some persons been considered as forming 
a distinct species. They also breed, when tame, with the Black Duck 
[Anas Fusca) and the Gadwal the latter connection giving rise to a. 
very handsome hybrid, retaining the yellow feet and barred plumage 
of the one, and the green head of the other parent." 

■^According to Pallas, in the Crimea, the tame Duck is reared with 
difficulty. 



THE TAME DUCK. 471 

due soaking, tlie monstrous mouthful easily slipped down. 
They are cheerful, harmless, good-natured, cleanly creatures. 
As Audubon says, ^' They wash themselves, and arrange their 
dress, before commencing their meal ; and in this, other tra- 
vellers (in America particularly) would do well to imitate 
them." 

In rearing Ducklings, it is usual, in the first place, to dip 
their feet in water as soon as hatched, and then to clip the 
down on their tails close with a pair of scissors, to prevent 
their becoming drabbled and water-logged; and before their 
introduction to the pond, it is thought advisable, by many 
good housewives, to let them have a private swim or two in 
a small pan of water, to try their strength and practise their 
webbed feet before venturing upon a larger space. 

A few original notes on the Mallard will not be out of place 
here, though the facts they record show that the Teal and such- 
like water cage-birds have a truer claim upon them, if disposi- 
tion and habits are to guide our arrangement. 

^'I have seen enough of the Mallard of England, and his 
untrustworthy progeny, to make me doubt of his being the 
origin of our Farm Duck. That the Mallard is becoming less 
frequent every year in our vicinit}'- is true, but we have at- 
tributed it chiefly to the exertions of unbidden would-be 
sportsmen on our river. We still, however, have them in cer- 
tain places in tolerable abundance. They are fond of frequent- 
ing the furze and heath on our downs in spring, and sometimes 
breed there, but oftener in willow-beds and the thick grass in 
our meadows, whence I have often had Eggs brought me, and 
set under Hens. These generally hatch well, if the Hen's 
breast be dipped in water a few times during incubation. 
There is a decided gain as to docility in Ducks hatched in 
this way, over those caught on the river, even if only a single 
day old. Young Wild Ducks are certainly some of the most 
cunning and slippery little creatures extant, and the best 



472 THE TAME DUCK. 

way is to commence handling them as soon as hatched, by 
which means, and by confining them for some time within an 
enclosed place, they soon become more reasonable. In every 
case, I have not been able to trust them until the feathers be- 
gan to appear; but in several seasons that I have reared them, 
they have been so distrustful, that it was not safe to allow them 
liberty, and as soon as ever their wings were grown, they were 
off. On one occasion, I had two of these birds, about a quar- 
ter grown, that grew exceedingly slowly : they were very wild, 
and one night made their escape to the river, where they re- 
mained until the evening of the following day, when they 
were retaken. If I had not previously marked them, nobody 
should ever have persuaded me that they were the same. I 
could not have conceived that less than twenty-four hours' im- 
mersion in the river could have caused the growth it did : but 
so it was. Another time, I succeeded in making a couple so 
gentle and sociable, that when half-grown, they would follow 
me, and eat out of my hand. Soaked bread they are very fond of 
when young; afterwards corn, &c.: the seed-tufts of the sedge 
are a great treat, when soaked in their water. The two birds 
above mentioned were both ladies, and, while I was trying to 
procure a drake, (no easy matter,) they vanished, about the end 
of November, being probably whipped up when out in an ad- 
joining road. One year I lost a fine brood by turning them 
into an exquisite little pond (as we thought) that had been 
lined with lime, whereby they became immovably stuck at 
the sides, and perished. Another time, in our great kindness, 
we procured some river weeds, water-crowfoot, &c., and 
placed them in their pond, forgetting it was not a running 
water. The poor little things became apparently tipsy, 
rolling and turning about in all directions and speedily com- 
ing to an end. One set of docile creatures I succeeded in 
rearing, turned out to be four Drakes; and so, for one reason 
or another, none have remained over the winter — the more to 



THE TAME DUCK. 473 

be regretted, as I wished to verify Waterton's account of the 
wonderful changes in dress the Drake undergoes in June and 
July, the oddest part of which is, that immediately on the 
completion of the bird's sober change of raiment, he begins 
to shed those feathers again, to make room for his gala dress. 
^^One cause of the diminution of numbers in the Mallard 
here, is a Fox-preserver about half a dozen miles off. These 
vermin seem to be fonder of Ducks than any thing else, and 
the Ducks are preserved for them ! How they catch them has 
always been rather a mystery to me, but it must be by lying 
perdu in the sedge for them. This, however, would seem to 
be but a poor chance. 

"Wild Ducks, rendered tame and corn-fed, are certainly 
superior to any, having the fine wild flavour, without its fishi- 
ness. Beech mast are a good occasional diet for Wild Ducks 
if thrown into their piece of water. 

"This season (1849) I have been particularly successful 
in rearing the Mallard in a state of domestication. Three 
different sets of Eggs, from five to nine in number, were 
brought in by our mowers, and the greater part hatched under 
Hens. ^ The Ducklings were shy at coming out, but as soon 
as their first feathers began to appear, they would eat from 
my hand, and follow me eagerly about the garden, if they 
saw me with a spade ; seeming to understand that they were 
about to enjoy their grand treat of worms. Small frogs also 
did not come amiss, which they gulped down, regardless of 
the cries of the poor creatures. I noticed that, after they at- 
tained their quill-feathers, though not previously, they began 
to eat grass with avidity. Odd scraps at first, and soaked 
corn and dry rice afterwards, formed their chief food; and 
this diet, I think, made them mild and agreeable ultimately 
for the table. Out of many I reared, there were only two 
females— one of which had a singular habit of attacking me 
with great spirit and much quacking, if I attempted the cap- 



474 THETAMEDUCK. 

ture of either of her gentlemen friends. In domestic Fowls 
this trait is often observed, but I was not prepared to find an in- 
stance of it in an unreclaimed bird a great deal too young to 
possess any maternal impulse. 



INDEX. 



AYLESBURY DUCK— The best kind of. Pa^e 465 

The Whit^ Call Duck 465 

The White Hook-billed Duck.— The Eouen Duck 466 

BERNICLE GOOSE — Becoming more and more productive in 

captivity 450 

Where to be pinioned — May be delayed too long 450 

Description of the Bernicle Goose — Number of Eggs laid 451 

Young liable to a certain disease 452 

BLACK SPANISH FOWL— A distinct variety 204 

Weight-of, atmaturity — Mr. Blake's Black Spanish 204 

Laying qualities, etc 205 

Mr. Dixon's account of them 206 

Neither good sitters nor mothers 207 

Young Chick's appearance, etc 208 

Varieties of Spanish Fowls 209 

Cross with Pheasant-Malay 211 

Precociousness of 212 

BREMEN GOOSE— Origin of the name 429 

Colour of plumage, bill, feet, and legs < 430 

Laying, and weight of — Quality of flesh of. 431 

Season of laying — Method of preventing unseasonable laying. 432 

Period of incubation 433 

Method of hatching and feeding the Young 433 

Average weight at seven or eight months old. 434 

Breeding boxes — Name of this variety in England 434 

DRENT GOOSE— The smallest of the tribe 453 

Has not bred in captivity in any British collection 453 

Where they may be obtained — Not easy to distinguish the sex. 454 

Not good for the table 454 

475 



476 INDEX. 

CHICKENS, or CHICKS— How Mr. Devereux rears them with- 
out a mother P. 329 

Proper Coop for — Importance of Early Chickens 330 

Mr. Cope's mode of rearing them 331 

Col. Jaques Chicken Coop 329 

CfflTTAGONG FOWL , 267 

Various names of — Found generally crossed.... 270 

General characteristics of. 270 

Mr. Taggart's appreciation of. 271 

COCHIN CHINA FOWL 143 

Little known of the origin of the Queen's Cochins 144 

Character of the Egg 144 

Mr Nolan's description of the Cochin China Fowl 144 

The Editor's importation of Cochins 145 

Mr. Burnham's importation — His description of 14G 

The Shanghaes from the same stock 148 

What Mr. Burnham was offered for choice specimens 149 

Notices of his stock 150 

Mr. Dixon regards the Shanghaes and Cochins as identical 150 

See Mr. D.'sletter on page 151 

Mr. Dixon's estimate and description of Cochins 152 

List of the weight of various Fowls, Cochins included 153 

Cochin China Fowls frequently feathered down the legs 156 

White ear-lobes not necessary to purity 157 

Weight and characteristics of the Eggs of Cochins 158 

DISEASES AND REMEDIES OF FOWLS 84 

The Roup, and its treatment-^Surgical cases 85 

The Gapes — its treatment 87 

How to remove the fascioloi 89 

Vermin, how to remove 91 

Startling facts concerning parasitic insects 93 

Two important letters from D. Taggart, Esq, on the manage- 
ment, etc., of Poultry 96 

Lice, how to remove and destroy — Arrangements for laying... 97 
Best destroyer of vermin 99 

DOMESTIC FOWL— Antiquity of the keeping of. 25 

Aristotle familiar with 27 

The reputed wild originals of the Domestic Fowl, doubtful 28 

Head quarters of the 38 

Unknown to the Icelanders 41 



INDEX. 477 

DOT^IESTIC FOWL— Found in the Islands of the Pacific P. 41 

List of the physical uses of a Hen and its parts 44 

Courage and demeanour of the Domestic Cock 47 

The Hen a pattern of maternal love 49 

Permanent character of the different varieties 50 

Experiments in crossing 51 

The Dominique variety 328 

Various kinds not particularly described 329 

DOMESTIC GOOSE— Longevity of 416 

Proper breeding age of — How many Geese to one Gander 416 

How the male bird may be known 416 

At what age they may be killed..., 417 

The season of laying— Period of incubation 417 

How the young should be fed 418 

Columella's directions for rearing 418 

How to be slaughtered 419 

DUNGHILL FOWL— How characterized 327 

Marks of the best variety 328 

GAME FOWL— Portrait of Mr. Wistar's.. 214 

Qualities of — An account of Cocking 214 

Exterior Qualifications of a Cock 216 

The Cock Pit 217 

The Fight 220 

Mr. Dixon's description of the Game Cock 222 

Temperament of the Game Cock 224 

Effects of Cock Fighting, (note) 228 

Cocks of the same colour not matched 231 

Malays fond of Cock-Fighting 232 

Two Varieties of Game Fowl — Their Eggs and Chicks 235 

Which are called Piles — The Furness Variety 237 

White do. do 238 

The Earl of Derby's 238 

Management of. 240 

Mexican Cock-Fighting 248 

The Mexican Hen-Cock Game Fowl 246 

Account of Mr. Taggart's Hen-Cock Game Fowl 247 

Dr. Bennett's account of the Yankee Game Fowl 250 

Isaac O'Sanner's Game Chickens 2G4 

S. Rusk's Game Fowl 267 

GOOSE— The Bernicle 449 



478 INDEX. 

GUINEA FOWL— Period of incubation— Appropriate food of... P. 374 

The way to feed the young 375 

Prolificness of — Native country of 377 

Varieties of 378 

HONG KONG, or CHINA GOOSE— Multitude of names for 420 

Description of. 421 

The habitat of— NvLmbev of Eggs laid by 422 

Worst flyer of all Geese 423 

Period of incubation 424 

Habit on leaving her nest 425 

Eggs hatched out by a husband and wife 425 

Colour of China Goose 425 

Most noisy of all Geese 42G 

Age of maturity — Advantage of a cross with common Goose... 427 

JAVA FOWL — Not known to exist here in its purity 272 

Fowls on Long Island of this name 272 

Description of 272 

JERSEY-BLUE FOWL— A mongrel 273 

Characteristics and weightof. 271 

MALAY FOWL— Mr. E. R. Cope's opinion of. 133 

Description of 133 

The habitat of the Malay Fowl 160 

Height, weight, and general characters of 160 

Mr Cope's importation of Malays..... 163 

Description of the Malay Fowl extracted from the Penny Cy- 
clopedia 163 

Mr. Baker's description of one — Malay Hen 164 

Singular habit of this breed 166 

Black Malays 169 

PEA FOWL— Description of— Destructiveness of. 345 

Her age when she begins to lay 348 

Pied variety — White variety 349 

PHEASANT— The Ring-necked 851 

Proper food for 353 

Difficulty of crossing with Domestic Fowls 353 

The Common will breed with the Ring-necked variety 354 

Period of incubation 354 

REARING AND MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS— Its profita- 
bleness 59 

Two classes of Fowl-breeders 60 



INDEX. 479 

REARING OF FOWLS— The greatest gainers, the dealers P. 61 

Amount of Eggs in the United States , 61 

How amateurs of Fowls should begin to keep them < 61 

Proper kind of house 61 

Proper kind of nests 63 

How the Fowl-house should be kept 64 

How to treat a Hen when she wants to sit 66 

Period of Incubation 67 

What to be done at the end of incubation 69 

What to be done when the Chicks are hatched out 72 

Chicks may be reared without a mother 74 

Dutch mode of fattening Fowls 75 

Various modes of cooking Poultry 77 

How to procure the greatest number of Eggs 79 

Jalap as a medicine for Fowls — Dose of — Relation of salt to 81 

Importance of lime for 82 

How Fowl-houses should be situated , 83 

How to obtain male or female Chicks 83 

SHAKEBAG FOWL— History of 272 

Supposed to be now extinct 273 

SHANGHAE FOWL 132 

Mr. E. R. Cope's opinion of 133 

Rev. Mr. Bumstead's Shanghaes 134 

Their laying qualities 135 

The Red Shanghae 136 

Dr. Eben Wight's White Shanghaes — Descriptions of 139 

Habits and dispositions of. - 140 

Thriftinessin this climate 141 

SWAN, BLACK— Its habits— Where originally found 382 

How to distinguish the sex of... 384 

How to pinion the < 385 

Way to feed the 386 

Period of incubation 392 

The way to fatten— Weight of. 394 

Mode of cooking < 395 

SWAN, MUTE 379 

Habits of. , 385 

The Hooper, the Polish, and Berwick 382 

TAME DUCK — Mr. Taggart's opinion of the common Duck 456 

Number of Eggs laid in a season 456 



480 INDEX. 

TAME DUCK — Young very healthy and easily reared P. 456 

The Musk Duck is not so prolific 456 

Mr. Dixon's account of the Tame Duck 457 

Various modes of cooking Ducks 463 

Native country of. 468 

Black Indian Ducks — Their peculiarity 469 

Period of incubation of the Tame Duck 469 

The Mallard does not differ in this respect 469 

Best mode of rearing 470 

Some account of the Mallard Duck 471 

How a Hen must be treated while sitting on Ducks' Eggs 471 

TURKEY— When introduced into England— Varieties of... 361 

The best kind 363, 

Crested 365 

When full grown 366 

Period of incubation ■. 368 

Proper food for the young — Diseases of the young 370 

"Shooting the red." 370 

WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE— First impression on seeing 437 

Eggs of — Qualities of this variety 439 

They pair like Pigeons 440 

WHITE CHINA GOOSE 440 

Meaning of genus, species, and variety, etc 442 

Existing varieties and species, the remains of extinct races.... 446 

Period of incubation of White China Goose 446 

Characteristics of this variety — Eggs of. 446 

WILD GOOSE— Will breed with the Domestic 396 

Period of incubation 397 

WILD FOWLS.— Gallus Bankiva— Its size 334 

Characteristics — Habitat 334 

Gallus Furcatus — By whom first described 334 

Characteristics — Habitat 334 

Gallus Sonneratii 335 

Erroneously supposed to be the progenitor of our Domestic 

Fowl 335 

Peculiarity of its hackle-feathers 335 

Description of BankivaHen 336 

Peculiarity of the neck-hackle of the Bankiva Cock 33T 



i^iuV ^ 



3i^4d 



STEREOTYPED BT L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 









•c,'^ ^ 

L^^ ^ 










G^ 




o^\- 



^^ d< -T 



















V 









cS ^ 






^ 



a^^ 






.^^ 



* / A> \y S -1^ ^Y> * -^ ^Y S f ^> 



^^ v^^ 









.di 



H<. 





o"\ 













=^^0^ r 



* ^-<»» /- ■«- <3 C> <" ^t^ ^ •!- <P ca * y^ 



'".\ 



fc%.*^ 










%>/ 




'. -% 



' %,# 








^c^<^ 



^-^ .s^ ^^ 









^. 



Qi. ^^/ 








fU' ^ 

^ ^ „^^ 



